
Gass 'frft \VI 
Book- , Qa 



no& 



SHORT CATECHISM 



OF 



CHURCH HISTORY 



FOR THF, 



Higher Grades of Catholic Schools. 



BY THF 



^ 



RIGHT REV. MGR. J. H. OECHTERING, V. G. 



Tenth Edition 



ST. LOUIS, MO. 1908. 

Published by B. HERDER, 

17 South Broadway. 



NIHIL OBSTAT. 

F. G. HowECK, 

Censor Theologicus. 
St. Louis, Mo., March 18th, 1904. 



IMPRIMATUR. 

*i* John J. Gl,ennon, 

Abp. St. Louis. 
St. Louis, March 18th, 1904. 



Copyright, 1899, by Jos. Gummersbach. 



iCEPT ''°N co L t EGELi 



'XCHAJSfGE 
COLLEGE 
9. luge 



-BECKTOLD — 

PRINTING AND BOOK A1FG. CO. 
ST. LOUIS. AlO. 



(II) 



PREFACE. 

i 

* HPHE Catechism of Church History which is 
■*• herewith presented to the public, will receive a 
cordial welcome " from our Catholic teachers. The 
educational value of history is universally conceded, 
and no history has such lessons of wisdom and con- 
duct to teach as that of the Church, which is the 
continuation of the life and work of Our Divine 
Lord. It is His permanent, visible presence in the 
world. It is the continuous verification of His 
words that the gates of hell shall not prevail. It is 
all-important, therefore, that the young be made 
acquainted with the leading facts of Church History, 
and a Catechism of Church History offers the simplest 
and most effective means of imparting to them this 
knowledge. The author of the present volume has 
had long experience as a pastor and teacher, and it 
is confidently believed that in publishing this work, 
he renders a genuine service to our schools. 



Peoria, March 10, 1899. 

(in) 



J. L,. Spalding, 

Bishop of Peoria. 



INDEX. 



Introduction. Page. 
Christ and His Church v 

Chapter I. 
The Beginning of the Church. — The Apostolic Age 1 

Chapter II. 
The Persecutions by the Roman Emperors 9 

Chapter III. 
Constantine's Conversion. — The Great Heresies and the 

Fathers of the Church 16 

Chapter IV. 
Monastic Life 25 

Chapter V. 
The Church and the Barbarian Nations of Europe 29 

Chapter VI. 
Origin of Church Property and the Temporal Power of the 

Popes 36 

Chapter VII. 
Mohammedanism. — The Greek Schism 39 

Chapter VIII. 
The Crusades 42 

Chapter IX. 
Church and State in the Middle Ages 47 

Chapter X. 
Benefits which the Church bestowed upon the World during 

the Middle Ages 54 

Chapter XI. 
Trials of the Church during the Decline of the Middle Ages 60 

Chapter XII. 
The So-called Reformation, or the Origin of Protestantism 65 

Chapter XHI. 
Council of Trent, 1545 — 1563, and its Results $7 

Chapter XIV. 
The Eighteenth Century 82 

Chapter XV. 

The Nineteenth Century 88 

List of the Popes .. 96 

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. INTRODUCTION. 
Christ and His Church. 

1. (J. What is the central and greatest event in the 
history of God's dealings with man? 

R. The central and greatest event in trie history 
of God's dealings with man is the Redemption of 
the world by Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 

2. Q. Was this event foretold in ancient times ? 

R. The coming of the Redeemer was promised 
by God to our first parents after their fall, and this 
promise was renewed to the patriarchs of old. 

3. Q. Did the hope of the Redeemer to come remain 
alive in the ancient world 2 

R. The heathen nations, who had apostatized 
from God and fallen into idolatry, retained only 
an obscure and distorted tradition of the future In- 
carnation of God and the Redemption. 

Their ancient belief, that their gods had appeared in hu- 
man form among men, was such a distorted tradition of the 
mystery of the Incarnation. The Greeks, for instance, pre- 
served in their legend of Prometheus (their name for Adam) 
an old prophecy that the son of their highest god would be- 
come man and be born of a virgin-mother in order to redeem 
our fallen race. We read that in the year 64 after Christ 
Mingdi, emperor of China, sent ambassadors westward to 
search for the divine teacher, foretold in ancient Chinese 
books. Having come to India they found there the religion 
of Buddha, which they embraced, mistaking it for the true. 
The coming of the wise men from the East proves most clearly 
that the tradition of a Saviour to come lived among the gen- 
tiles. Suetonius and Tacitus, writers of ancient pagan Rome, 
have left it on record that, at the time of the birth of Christ, 
the world was full of rumors about a mysterious power, which, 
according to old traditions, was to rise in Palestine and rule 
the whole world. 

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VI 

4. Q. Which people was chosen by God in this general 
apostasy to preserve fnlly the hope of the coming Re* 
deemer ? 

R. The people of Israel was chosen by God to 
preserve fully the hope of the Redeemer to come, 
and to prepare and foreshadow the future kingdom 
of God on earth. 

Israel was brought by God to Palestine into the middle of 
the great historical nations of antiquity. The Babylonian, 
Assyrian, and Persian kingdoms east and north, Egypt south, 
the Macedonian and Roman empires west, all made Israel 
share in their world-moving history. Hence Ezechiel, the 
prophet, called Jerusalem "gate of the nations". 

Palestine lay on the great thoroughfare, leading from Africa 
into Asia, while the Red and the Mediterranean seas gave it 
a waterway to India and the great nations of the west. Thus 
Israel's children, bearing the Messianic hope, eventually 
spread into all lands, thereby preparing the way for the 
apostles, who set forth from Jerusalem to evangelize the world. 

5. Q. How did God sustain Israel in this mission? 

R. God sustained Israel in this sacred mission 
by frequent prophecies and by His miraculous pro- 
tection and guidance of the nation. 

6. Q. When did God fulfill His promise concerning the 
Redeemer to come? 

R. God fulfilled His promise and prophecies 

about the Redeemer to come, when He sent His 

only begotten Son, who was conceived by the Holy 

Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary. 

7. Q. How did Christ redeem the world? 

R. Christ redeemed the world by His passion 
and death on the Cross. 

8. Q. What did Christ do in order to insure for all time 
to the world the fruits of His Redemption ' 

R. In order to insure for all time to the world 

the fruits of His Redemption, He established His 

Church. 



Vll 

The fruits of the Redemption are two-fold : 

1. Divine grace (sanctifying and actual), which is dis- 
pensed mainly through the sacraments of the Church. 

2. Divine truth, entrusted by Christ and his apostles to the 
Church and called the deposit of faith. It is contained in the 
Bible or written word of God, and in Tradition or the un- 
written word of God, which is handed down in the uninter- 
rupted teaching and practice of the Church. The witnesses 
of Tradition are the ordinary teaching of the Church, the de- 
crees of the councils and of the popes, the writings of the 
Fathers and Doctors, the liturgy, the administration of the 
sacraments, the feasts of the Church, the acts of martyrs, the 
documents and relics of the past. From these can be gathered 
what has been believed in the Church always, everywhere 
and by all. (Vincent of Lerins.) 

9. (J. How did Christ establish His Church? 

R. Christ established His Church by choosing 
and appointing His apostles as bishops over His 
flock, making one of their number, St. Peter, the 
supreme head. "Thou art Peter, and upon this 
rock I will build My Church. " (Matt. 16, 18.) 

10. Q. Which powers did Christ give to His Church, in 
order to bring? the fruits of the Redemption to mankind? 

R. Christ gave to His Church a three-fold 
power : 

1. To teach all nations His divine truth. (Matt. 
28, 19 — 20.) 

2. To dispense His grace through the Holy 
Sacrifice of the altar and the Sacraments. (St. 
L,uke, 22, 19; St. Matt. 28, 19 ; St. John, 20, 23.) 

3. To guide and rule the lambs and sheep of His 
flock. (St. John, 21, 17.) 

11. Q. How did Christ enable His Church to fulfill this 
diviue commission? 

R. 1. He promised that He would be with His 
Church even unto the consummation of the world. 
(Matt. 28, 13.) 



Vlll 

2. He sent the Holy Ghost to abide with His 
Church forever. (St. John, 14, 16.) 

12. Q. What, therefore, is the character of the Church? 

R. The Church is a divine institution consisting 
of men, but possessing the abiding presence of 
Jesus Christ and the continual assistance and guid- 
ance of the Holy Ghost. 

The divine element of the Church appears iu her inde- 
structible existence through all ages, in her unchanging and 
infallible teaching of divine truth, in her uninterrupted dis- 
pensation of God's grace, by which innumerable souls obtain 
holiness, and in the miracles marking her career through 
history. The human element of the Church appears in the 
weaknesses and shortcomings of many of her children, es- 
pecially in the scandals and sins committed by her unworthy 
members. Christ Himself tolerated Judas for three years 
amongst His disciples in order to warn us, that scandals will 
occur in the history of His Church. 

In spite of sin and scandal and in spite of the law of decay 
overruling all things human, the Church continues forever in 
her constitution and in her sacred ministry of grace and truth; 
this is another proof of the divine element within her. 

13. Q. By what titles has the Church been called in 
Holy Scriptures 2 

R. 1. In the old testament the prophet calls 
her the kingdom of the Messias, which is to be 
without end. (Is. 9, 7.) 

2. Jesus Christ calls her His Church, against 
which the gates of hell shall not prevail (Matt. 16, 
18); the one fold under one shepherd (John, 10, 
16); the light of the world, the city seated on a 
mountain that cannot be hid (Matt. 5, 14); the 
kingdom of heaven (Matt. 16, 19). 

3. St. Paul calls her the ground and pillar of 
truth (1. Tim. 3, 15); the flock of Christ, over 
which the Holy Ghost hath placed the bishops t,o 



12 

rule (Act. 20, 28). In his letter to the Ephesians 
(Chap. 5) he describes her as the immaculate 
spouse of Christ, and in 1. Cor. 12 as "the visible 
body of Christ, of which the faithful are the mem- 
bers." 

14. Q. What was the condition of the world, when the 
Church commenced her mission % 

R. All nations, except the Jews, adored false 
gods, idols and beasts. They worshipped them 
by committing foul crimes and offering even human 
sacrifices. Immorality prevailed and the rights of 
God and man were spurned. 

Even ancient Greece and Rome, the ruling and most 
cultured of pagan nations, had gods whom they worshipped 
by impurity (Venus), drunkenness (Bacchus) and bloody re- 
venge (Mars) . Family life was totally demoralized by divorce 
and the degradation of woman. War was merciless according 
to the rule: "Woe to the vanquished." Slavery held over 
two thirds of the population of the ancient world in such 
misery, that the question was seriously asked: "Is the slave 
a human being?" In the public games of the circus thou- 
sands of gladiators and captives were forced to kill one an- 
other for the amusement of the people. 

15. Q. What was the attitude of the Jews % 

R. They retained the belief in the one true 
God, but rejected and crucified the Son of God, the 
Messias, who had been promised to them by God 
and announced by their prophets. 

Note. — The history of the Church is the record of her 
career through time and of the fulfillment of her divine mis- 
sion on earth. According to His promise Christ is with her, 
teaches, gives grace and rules through her ; and she shares 
with Him the hatred of hell and the opposition of the world, 
but she is also destined to share His eternal glory in heaven. 



Chapter I. . 
Beginning of the Church. 

16. Q. How did the Church begin her divine mission to 
the world? 

R. On Pentecost day, after the miraculous de- 
scent of the Holy Ghost St. Peter and the other 
Apostles began to preach the gospel in Jerusalem 
and converted 3000 Jews. The number of believers 
grew daily, and the Church spread steadily over 
Judea, Samaria, Galilee, and into the surrounding 
countries. 

At Antioch, the capital of Syria, the faithful were first 
called Christians. 

17. Q. Did the Apostles confine their labors to the Jews % 

R. No ; they taught the Gentiles also ; for 

1. Christ had commanded them to go into the 
whole world and teach all nations ; and the Holy 
Ghost bestowed upon them the gift of preaching 
in divers tongues. 

2. St. Peter was instructed by a heavenly vision 
to baptize the Gentile captain Cornelius. 

3. The council of the Apostles, held at Jerusa- 
lem about the year 51, decreed that converted 
Gentiles should be dispensed from observing the 
mosaic rites. 

,Thus the Church showed from her very beginning the 
mark of Catholicity, so that St. Paul could truly say: "There 
is neither Jew nor Gentile, barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor 
free, but Christ is all in all." (Col. 3.) 

(1) 



18. Q. Describe briefly the career of the Apostles. 

R. St. Peter labored in Palestine, Syria, and 
Asia Minor. As head of the Church, he presided 
over the election of Matthias to the apostleship left 
vacant by Judas, and over the first council held at 
Jerusalem. He established his see at Antioch ; 
but removed it about the year 42 to Rome, the 
capital of the world, which became the seat of 
the papacy and the center of Christendom. 
There he died the death of a martyr, being 
nailed to the cross, as he had humbly requested, 
head downward. (June 29, A. D. 67.) 

St. Paul, formerly called Saul, and a persecutor of 
the Church, was converted near Damascus by 
the voice of Jesus speaking to him from heaven. 
Having become a zealous apostle, he made four 
great voyages and brought the gospel to Cyprus, 
Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, and Spain. After a 
life of labor and trials, he obtained the crown 
of martyrdom, dying by the sword at Rome on 
the same day on which St. Peter was crucified. 

St. John, the beloved friend of our Lord, took 
under his care the Blessed Virgin, entrusted to 
him under the cross. He became bishop of 
Ephesus and directed the churches of Asia Minor, 
until his holy death about the year 100. A burn- 
ing love for God and man filled his great, in- 
nocent soul, and he constantly repeated the sub- 
lime admonition: "My little children, love one 
another." 

St. James, the brother of St. John, labored in 
Judaea, and as tradition states, also in Spain. He 
was beheaded under King Herod Agrippa (A. D. 43). 



St. James, the Less, became bishop of Jerusalem 
and was called the Just on account of his holiness. 
For professing that "Christ sitteth at the right hand 
of God," he was cast from the wall of the temple 
and slain with a fuller's club in the year 63. 

St. Andrew preached in Southern Russia and on 
the coast of the Black Sea. He was crucified in 
Patras in Greece. When he beheld the cross, he 
greeted it with the -beautiful words: u O dearest 
cross, honored by the body of my Master, long 
desired by me, take me hence from men and 
give me to my Lord ! ' ' 

St. Philip died at Hierapolis in Phrygia, Asia 
Minor. St. Bartholomew went to Armenia, 
where he received the crown of martyrdom, be- 
ing flayed alive. 

St. Thomas is said to have gone to India ; 
St. Jude Thaddeus to Syria, Mesopotamia, and 
Persia ; St. Simon to Egypt, Northern Africa, 
and Babylon. St. Matthias is said to have come 
into the countries south of the Caucasus, and 
St. Matthew to the countries south of the Cas- 
pian Sea. 

19. Q. How was the preaching of the Apostles con- 
firmed? 

R. The preaching of the Apostles was con- 
firmed by numerous miracles, by the sublime 
holiness of their lives, their heroic sacrifice of all 
earthly things, and especially by the shedding of 
their blood in testimony of the truth. 

20. {J. What was the success of the Apostles among the 

i? 
R. Although many were converted, the ma- 



jority and the leaders of the nation not only re- 
mained obstinate, but even persecuted the Chris- 
tians. Therefore they were rejected by God and 
delivered into the hands of their enemies. In the 
year 70, Jerusalem was destroyed by a Roman 
army under Titus. A million of Jews perished in 
the war, forty thousand were crucified, many were 
sold as slaves, and the rest were scattered through- 
out the world. 

With the destruction of Jehovah's temple, the divinely 
ordained worship of the Old Law ceased for ever, to make 
room for that of the New Law of which it had been the type. 
Since that time Israel, exiled from the land of promise, its 
priesthood extinguished, and its sacrifices at an end Cas 
Malachy prophesied), has lived dispersed among the nations. 
But Divine Providence keeps it in existence, an unwilling 
witness to the revelations, prophesies, and judgments of God, 
until shortly before the end of the world, He will lead back 
in mercy His repentant people to the faith. 

21. Q. What was the success of the Apostles among the 
heathens? 

R. The Apostles converted great numbers of 
heathens in many lands. In the prominent cities 
of the Roman empire congregations were formed 
over which they placed their disciples as bishops 
and priests, and from these the Christian religion 
spread in ever- widening circles. 

For instance, St. Paul appointed his disciple Titus as 
bishop of the island of Crete, and instructed him to ordain 
and send bishops to the different districts. St. Peter sent his 
disciple St. Mark to Alexandria, whence Christianity spread 
over all Egypt. 

St. John ordained Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, and St. 
Ignatius, bishop of Antioch. Maris, a disciple of St. Jude, 
established the Church in Seleucia and among the Chaldeans. 
From Rome disciples of the Apostles spread the faith to the 
cities of Italy, Sicily, Northern Africa, Gaul, Spain, and even 
to parts of Germany and Britain. 



St. Justin wrote about the year 150: "There is no people, 
neither among the barbarians, nor the Greeks, nor any known 
tribe, where prayers and thanksgivings are not offered to God 
in the name of Christ Crucified." 

22. Q. From whom came this wonderful success ? 

R. Such wonderful success could come from 
God alone ; for to the proud and immoral heathen 
the doctrine of Christ Crucified seemed folly, and 
the practice of humility and Christian virtue, a 
moral impossibility. 

Acts 24. St. Paul was invited to preach the faith before 
Felix, pagan governor of Syria, but "as he treated of justice 
and chastity and the judgment to come, ' ' Felix, being terrified, 
answered : "For this time go thy way." 

23. Q. How was divine worship practiced by the first 
Christians 2 

R. We learn from Holy Scripture, and Tra- 
dition, that Holy Mass with Communion and in- 
struction was regularly celebrated: ' 'They were 
persevering in the doctrines of the Apostles and 
in the communication of the breaking of bread and 
in prayers" (Acts 2. 42). 

After Baptism the sacrament of Confirmation was conferred 
by imposing hands and invoking the Holy Ghost as St. Peter 
and St. John did in Samaria and St. Paul in Ephesus (Acts 
8. 17 and 19. 6). The sacrament of Penance included Con- 
fession of sins. "Many of them that believed came confessing 
and declaring their deeds'* (Acts 19. 18.) The sacrament of 
Holy Orders was conferred, as in the case of Saul and Barna- 
bas, by "fasting aud praying and imposing their hands upon 
them" (Acts 13. 3). St. Paul called Matrimony "a great 
sacrament in Christ and in his Church", and admonished 
such as married to "marry in the Lord" (Kph. 5. 32, I. Cor. 
7. 39). St. James describes the sacrament of Extreme Unction 
(St. James 5. 14). Fasting was practiced at certain times, so 
that St. Augustine traced the Lenten fast back to apostolic 
institution. St. Ignatius (f A. D. 107) wrote about the hier- 
archy of the apostolic age : "Let all be obedient to the bishop 
as Jesus to the Father, to the priests as to the Apostles, and 



6 

to the deacons as God's law." He calls the Church of Rome 
the head of the great union of Charity (i. e. the head of the 
whole Church). 

24. Q. Which of the Apostles haye left sacred writings ? 

R. St. Peter, St. Paul, St. John, St. Matthew, 
St. James, St. Jude Thaddeus, and two disciples of 
the Apostles, St. Luke and St. Mark. 

Their writings form the New Testament, and 
have been placed by the Church on her list of in- 
spired books, called the "Canon." 

Four gospels by St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, St. John. 

The acts of the Apostles by St. Luke. Fourteen epistles 
of St. Paul: To Romans (1), I Corinthians (2), Galatians (1), 
Ephesians (1), Philippians (1), Colossians (1J, Thessalonians 
(2), Timothy (2), Titus (1), Philemon (1), Hebrews (1). 1 
epistle of St. James, 2 of St. Peter, 3 of St. John, 1 of St. Jude. 
Apocalypse of St. John. 

25. Q. About what time were they written ? 

R. The Church had been evangelizing the 
world for about 17 years, St. James and St. Stephen 
had been martyred, and the persecution by the 
Jews had passed, when the Apostles began to write. 
The gospel of St. Matthew was compiled about the 
year 50, and that of St. John about the year 96. 
The other books of the New Testament were 
written during the intervening time. 

26. Q. How were the books of the Old Testament re- 
ceived into the canon of the Church! 

R. The books of the Old Testament were re- 
ceived into the canon of the Church as they had 
been handed down by ancient Jewish tradition, re- 
cognized by Christ and his Apostles, and sanctioned 
by the councils. 

The canon of the Old and New Testament such as it is to- 
day, was defined in a council held at Rome under Pope 



Damasus (A. D. 374) and also in the African councils of 
Hippo (A. D. 393) and Carthage (A. D. 397). 

27. Q, Did the Church hare published translations of 
the Bible for the people 2 

R. Translations of the Bible from the original 
Hebrew and Greek text were made under super- 
vision of the Church even during the first centuries. 

■ The Septuagint or Greek translation of the Old Testament, 
made about 200 years before Christ, was used by the Apostles 
and first Christians. For the Roman Empire a Latin trans- 
lation of the entire Bible, called Itala, and for Egypt an 
Egyptian or Coptic translation appeared as early as the 
second century, and an Ethiopian and Armenian in the fourth 
and fifth centuries. Translations either total or partial fol- 
lowed for the barbarian nations of Europe, after they had 
been converted, f. i. A Gothic translation was made by 
bishop Ulfila, who invented the letters of the Gothic alpha- 
bet. (A. D. 360.) Sts. Methodius and Cyril, apostles of 
the Slavs, translated the Bible into Slavic, for which they 
also invented the characters of the alphabet. Venerable Bede, 
a learned Benedictine monk in England, finished on his 
deathbed an Anglo-Saxon translation of the gospel of St. John 
(A. D. 735). St. Bridget of Sweden had a Swedish translation 
of the whole Bible in her library (A. D. 1373). 

28. Q. Did the disciples of the Apostles leave us any 
writings ? 

R. Several disciples of the Apostles, called also 

Apostolic Fathers, left important writings ; for 

instance, St. Clement of Rome, third successor of 

St. Peter, wrote a letter to the Corinthians ; St. 

Ignatius, bishop of Antioch and disciple of St. 

John, left us seven letters, and St. Polycarp, bishop 

of Smyrna, and also a disciple of St. John, one 

letter. There is also a letter of St. Barnabas, 

the early companion of St. Paul. 

These writings are the earliest witnesses of Tradition. In 
regard to the celebration of Sunday, St. Barnabas gives the 
reason, why Christians discard the Sabbath, and then con- 



8 

tinues: "But we celebrate with festive joy the eighth day on 
which Jesus rose from the dead;" St. Ignatius also writes: 
"They (Christians) have the new hope and do not keep the 
Sabbath, but regulate their lives according to the Lord's day." 
(Magnesians C. 9.) In the letter of St. Ignatius to the Phila- 
delphians (C. 4) we find the words: "Partake of the one 
Eucharist; for one is the body of the Lord Jesus Christ and 
one is the chalice of his blood, one altar and one bishop with 
the priests and the deacons." 

29. (J. Did any heresies arise in the apostolic age ? 

Yes ; for St. Paul warned against false teachers, 
and St. John wrote his gospel against Cerinth and 
others who attacked the divinity of Christ. St. 
Peter refuted Simon Magus, who is called the father 
of heresy. 

Simon offered money to St. Peter, in order to obtain the 
power of imparting the wonderful gifts of the Holy Ghost; 
but he was rebuked with the words : "Keep thy money to thy- 
self to perish with thee." Hence the name "Simony" for the 
sin of selling or buying spiritual and holy things. 

NOTE. — The apostolic age has left upon the Church the 
distinguishing mark of apostolicity. Her popes hold the 
legitimate and unbroken succession in the apostolic see, 
which St. Peter, as head of the Church, established in Rome; 
the lines of her bishops can be traced with undeniable cer- 
tainty to apostolic origin ; she received and guarded the 
writings of the Apostles and thus formed the canon of the 
New Testament; the bodies and relics of the Apostles rest 
under her altars. Of her, therefore, St. Paul says: "Built 
upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus 
Christ being Himself the cornerstone." (Eph. II, 20.) 



Chapter II. 
The Persecutions by the Roman Emperors. 

30. Q. What did the pagan world do in order to cheek 
the rapid spread of Christianity? 

R. The Roman emperors, who governed the 
world, decreed ten great and bloody persecutions. 

31. Q. Name these persecutions. 

R. First persecution, under Nero, about the 
year 64. He had set Rome on fire, but cast the 
blame on the Christians. They were killed by 
thousands in the streets ; many were sewed in 
sacks, besmeared with pitch and burned alive at 
the nightly garden feasts of Nero. St. Peter and 
St. Paul died in this persecution. 

Second persecution, under Domitian, about the 
year 95. During this persecution St. John was 
cast into a caldron of boiling oil, but was mir- 
aculously preserved. He was then banished to the 
isle of Patmos, where he received divine revelations 
about the future of the Church and the glory of 
Heaven, and wrote the Apocalypse. 

Third persecution, under Trajan, about the year 
107. Pope St. Clement was one of the first vic- 
tims ; Simeon, second bishop of Jerusalem, was 
crucified ; St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, was 
cast before the lions in the amphitheatre at Rome. 

The Christians of Rome gathered the bones of St. Ignatius 
and sent them to Antioch with the message : ''We have made 
known to you the day of his death, so that we may unite on 
his anniversary to celebrate his memory, hoping to share his 
victory." (A. D. 110.) This proves the veneration of mar- 

(9) 



10 

tyrs and relics in the ancient Church. Pliny, governor of 
Bithynia, sent to Emperor Trajan a remarkable report about 
the Christians, in which he said : "They assemble on certain 
days before sunrise to sing hymns of praise in honor of Christ, 
their God, they take an oath to abstain from certain crimes 
and partake of a common, but blameless meal" (i. e. holy 
communionj. 

This persecution was continued under Hadrian, 
who condemned St. Symphorosa and her seven 
sons to death. He profaned the holy places in 
Jerusalem and erected statues of false gods on Cal- 
vary and over the holy Sepulchre of our Lord. 

Fourth persecution, under Marcus Aurelius, 
about the year 167. St. Polycarp, a disciple of 
St. John and bishop of Smyrna, suffered martyrdom 
at the stake in the 86th year of his life. The per- 
secution was terrible in Lyons and Vienne, France, 
where St. Pothinus, first bishop of Lyons, and 
Blandina, a heroic young slave, were martyred. 
Although the famous Christian legion called "Ful- 
minatrix" saved the army in a miraculous manner 
by its prayers, the emperor remained unrelenting 
towards the Christians. 

The influence of St. Polycarp was so great, that his pagan 
and Jewish accusers stated : "He is the teacher of Asia, father 
of the Christians and destroyer of our Gods." When asked 
to deny Christ, he answered: "I have served Christ for six 
and eighty years, and never has he done me evil. How, 
then, can I blaspheme my King and Saviour." His ashes 
were gathered by the Christians and placed in a tomb, where 
they annually celebrated the day of his martyrdom. 

Fifth persecution, under Septimius Severus, 
about the year 202. This emperor had been cured 
by a Christian ; nevertheless he turned against 
them. St. Clement of Alexandria said of this per- 
secution : "We see daily many martyrs burned and 
crucified before our eyes." St. Irenaeus suffered 



11 

at Lyons, St. Perpetua and St. Felicitas at Car- 
thage. 

Perpetual father, a pagan and senator of Carthage, begged 
her on his kj; ees to abjure Christ for the sake of his gray hair 
and her own little babe, but with heroic fortitude the noble 
Christian lady refused. She was led with St. Felicitas into 
the arena, where they suffered a glorious martyrdom by the 
horns of a maddened bull aud the sword of the executioner. 

Sixth persecution, under Maximinus Thrax, 
about the year 236. On account of repeated earth- 
quakes, which the heathens ascribed to the neglect 
of their gods, they demanded another persecution 
of the Christians with the cry : "The Christians to 
the lions. " The two popes, Pontianus and An- 
thems, and many others suffered martyrdom. 

Seventh persecution, under Decius, about the 
year 250. This most bloody and systematic per- 
secution which was directed especially against the 
bishops and the clergy, was decreed by Decius on 
the plea that Christianity and the Roman Empire 
could never be reconciled. Among the holy vic- 
tims were the virgins St. Agatha and St. Apollonia. 

St. Cyprian wrote at that time : "EJmperor Decius had be- 
come so jealous of papal authority that he said: I will 
rather have a rival in my empire, than hear of the election of 
the priest of God (Pope Cornelius) in Rome." 

Eighth persecution, under Valerian, about 258. 
In Rome, Pope Sixtus II. and his deacon St. Law- 
rence were martyred. When the treasures of the 
Church were demanded from him, St. Lawrence 
assembled the poor and showed them to his per- 
secutor with the words : " Behold the treasures of 
the Church.' ' He suffered death with serene for- 
titude, being roasted alive on a gridiron. 
v . AtlMcay- Africap'153 Christians were cast alive 
inllPpits and covered with quick-lime. 



12 

Ninth persecution was ordered by Emperor 
Aurelian, but soon came to an end on account of 
his violent death. 

Tenth persecution, under Diocletian, about the 
year 303. It surpassed all others in violence and 
cruelty. St. Sebastian, tribune of the imperial 
guard, suffered a lingering death, being shot with 
arrows. St. Anastasia, the youthful St. Agnes of 
Rome, St. Lucia of Syracuse, and many other con- 
secrated virgins obtained the martyr's palm. St. 
Catherine, a noble and learned virgin of Alexan- 
dria, who had fearlessly reproached Caesar Maxen- 
tius for his cruelty against the Christians and 
refuted the pagan philosophers of his court, died 
by the sword. 

When Bishop Felix, who had refused to deliver the 
sacred books, was led to execution, he said : "It is better that 
I be cast into the fire, than the sacred volumes. I thank Thee, 
O Lord, for fifty-six years of my life were spent in Thy ser- 
vice, I have preserved sacerdotal chastity, have guarded the 
holy gospels, and preached Thy truth. For Thee, O Jesus, 
God of heaven and earth, I offer myself as victim. " 

So great and general was the bloodshed, that Diocletian 
had a coin struck: "Diocletian, emperor, who destroyed the 
Christian name." A vain boast. His favorite, Caesar Ga- 
lerius, was attacked by a loathsome disease, and, fearing the 
vengeance of God, he repealed the edict of persecution. 

32. Q. How did the popes rule the Church daring these 
persecutions ? 

R. The popes stood at their post and died for 
the faith as true shepherds of Christ's suffering 
flock. Although persecution rendered the ruling 
of Holy Church extremely difficult, the records of 
the time bear witness to the authority and watch- 
fulness of these martyr pontiffs. 

See list of popes, Sts. Clement, Anicetus, Victor, Cornelius, 
Stephen. 



13 

33. <}. What torments did the Martyrs suffer? 

R. They were scourged, put to the rack, cast 
before wild beasts, burnt at the stake, crucified 
and tortured in many other ways, according to the 
cruel custom of pagan times. 

The acts of the martyrs furnish reliable accounts of the 
glorious confession and death of these Christian heroes. 
They were either copied from the records of the imperial law 
courts or written down according to the testimony of eye- 
witnesses. Pope Clement had divided Rome into seven dis- 
tricts, with notaries appointed to keep these sacred records. 
A large number perished during the persecution of Dio- 
cletian, but many have been preserved to the present time 
and are of great value as proofs that the faith of the early 
martyrs was that of the Church of to-day. 

34. Q. What did these persecutions prove 2 

R. These persecutions proved that a religion, 
which for three hundred years passed safely through 
such trials and victoriously withstood the bloody 
onslaught of the world's greatest empire, must be 
from God 

35. Q. How did Almighty God avenge the persecutions 
of His Church? 

R. I. Nearly all of these persecutors died a 
miserable death. 

2. Barbarian nations laid waste the frontiers and 
the distant provinces of the Roman empire. 

3. Earthquakes, floods, drouths, famines, and 
dreadful diseases visited the nation. 

Nero had to fly before the open revolt of the people and 
stabbed himself in despair. Domitian was assassinated. 
Hadrian became insane from despair. Marcus Aurelius, 
heartbroken over the ingratitude of his profligate and only 
son Commodus, starved himself to death. Septimius Seve- 
rus, whose life had been attempted by his own son, died in 
despair. Decius ended miserably in a swamp during an un- 
lucky battle with the Goths. Valerian was taken prisoner 
by Sapor, king of Persia, and flayed alive. Maxentius was 



14 

drowned in the Tiber, and Diocletian starved himself to 
death. 

36. Q. What was the attitude of the first Christians 
during these persecutions? 

R. While thousands of martyrs bore torture 
and death with heroic fortitude, the Christians 
worshipped in hidden places (catacombs) with un- 
flagging zeal, and their learned men defended the 
faith in numerous writings. 

Catacombs are underground passages and rooms, carved 
into the soft rocks, outside the gates of ancient Rome. They 
were used by the early Christians for burial and for the cele- 
bration of the holy mysteries. Pictures, medals, and inscrip- 
tions which were found there, prove the identity of the faith 
in that age with ours ; f. i. prayers for the dead, invocation 
of the saints, and the Real Presence. Remarkable i3 the 
emblem of the fish, used during that perilous time to de- 
signate our Lord; for the Greek word "ichthys" means fish, 
and its composing letters are the initials of the words : Jesus 
Christ, God's (theou) Son (yiosj, Saviour (soter). To "receive 
the fish" meant, for the initiated, Holy Communion. 

37. Q. Name some of the early writers, or apologists. 

R. St. Justin, a philosopher and afterwards 
martyr, wrote two excellent apologies and pre- 
sented them to the Emperors Antoninus Pius and 
Marcus Aurelius. (A. D. 150.) 

St. Clement of Alexandria and his great disciple 
Origen, refuted in profound works the teachings of 
Celsus and other philosophers, who had assailed 
Christianity. 

Tertullian, formerly a Roman lawyer and later 
a Christian, and St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage 
and martyr, showed in learned works the empti- 
ness of paganism and the just claims of the Christ- 
ian religion to philosophical and political re- 
cognition. 



15 

St. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons and disciple of 
Bishop Polycarp, (who was a disciple of St. John, 
the Apostle), wrote a famous work against the 
heresies of his time. (A. D. 180.) 

In order to show the importance of St. Irenaeus as a wit- 
ness of divine tradition, we quote from his letter to Florinus, 
an imperial courtier, written about the year 177: "I saw thee 
in thy youth with Polycarp in Asia Minor, and I remember so 
well, that I can describe the place in which he sat and 
preached, and his walk and face, and how he related his 
familiar intercourse with St. John and others who had seen 
the Lord, how he recalled what he had heard about the Lord, 
his miracles and teaching from those who had beheld the 
Word of Life with their own eyes, — all in accordance with 
Holy Scripture." 

38. Q. What heresies afflicted the Church in those times % 

R. i. Gnosticism, which claimed to possess the 
secret of a higher knowledge and taught the etern- 
ity of matter, its formation into the world by an 
evil spirit, and the sinfulness of material things. 

2. Manicheism, which assumed two eternal prin- 
ciples, light and darkness, or good and evil, and 
taught that all material things come from the evil 
principle. 

Note;. — Persecutions and martyrdom are distinguishing 
traits in the history of the Church and will continue as long 
as time will last, because Christ has said: "The servant is 
not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they 
will persecute you." (St. John XV, 20.) But from every per- 
secution the Church has risen in new, divinely infused vigor 
and sanctity ; and the blood of the martyrs became, as Ter- 
tullian has written, "the seed of Christians." 



Chapter III. 

Constantine's Conversion. — The Great Heresies 
and the Fathers of the Church. 

39. Q. How did God give peace to His Church? 

R. God gave peace to His Church through the 
miraculous conversion of Emperor Constantine, in 
the year 312. 

40. Q. How was Constantine converted 1 

R. A cross, surrounded by the words, "In this 
sign thou shalt conquer," appeared in the heavens 
to him and his army. Adopting the cross as his 
standard, he marched against the pagan Emperor 
Maxentius and gained a glorious victory by which 
he became the sole Christian emperor of the world. 

41. Q. What did Constantine do for the Church I 

R. He became the zealous protector of the 
Church, gave her full liberty, honored popes and 
bishops, and built magnificent churches ; so that, 
in a short time, Christianity became the chief re- 
ligion of the Roman Empire. His mother, St. 
Helena, brought the holy cross and many sacred 
relics from Jerusalem to Rome. 

In the year 313 the imperial edict of Milan was published. 
It abolished all laws against the Christian religion, granted 
liberty of worship, restored all confiscated property, entitled 
the Church to acquire real estate and to accept testamentary 
bequests, and made the celebration of the SiMiday obligatory 
for the empire. 

(16) 



17 

42. Q. What countries were conyerted during the Con- 
stantine era 1 

R. Ethiopia was converted by St. Frumentius, 

who had been brought a captive to the king's 

court, and was consecrated bishop by St. Athana- 

sius of Alexandria. 

St. Gregory, called Illuminator, became the Apostle of 
Armenia, and after suffering dreadful tortures for the faith, 
brought king Tiridates and the whole nation into the Church. 
The gospel was spread in Persia, Southern Arabia, and even 
in India and Ceylon. 

43. Q. What happened after the external enemies of the 
Church had been conquered? 

R. The Church of God, which is and always 
will be the Church militant on earth, had to con- 
quer internal foes, i. e., the false prophets of here- 
sy, as Christ had foretold. 

44. Q. Name the prominent heresies. 

R. I. Arianism. — Anus, an apostate priest of 
Alexandria, -about the year 320 denied the divinity 
of the Son, the second person of the Blessed 
Trinity and taught the blasphemy, that Jesus 
Christ is only the first and highest of God's 
creatures. His heresy, supported by several 
emperors of Constantinople, spread far and wide 
and lasted till the seventh century. In the 
height of his success he was struck by sudden 
death at Constantinople and died like Judas, the 
entrails bursting forth from his body. 

II. Macedonianism. — Macedonius, bishop of 
Constantinople, denied the divinity of the Holy 
Ghost, the third Person of the Blessed Trinity. 

III. Pelagianism. — Pelagius, a British monk, 
about the year 400, denied original sin and the 
necessity of grace, a heresy, held by the un- 



18 

"believers of our time who claim, that natural 
goodness is sufficient to save man. 

IV. Nestorianism. — Nestorius, patriarch of 
Constantinople, taught the existence of two per- 
sons in Christ, a divine and a human, inferring 
therefrom that Mary should not be called Mother 
of God. When he defended his heresy from the 
pulpit, the indignant people forced him to leave 
the church. The haughty enemy of our Lady's 
exalted dignity died impenitent and excommuni- 
cated in exile. 

V. Heresy of the Monophy sites. — Eutyches, 
abbot of a convent near Constantinople, taught 
that there was but one nature in Christ, the 
divine ; from which it would follow, that Christ 
could not have died to redeem us. 

VI. Heresy of the Monothelites. — Sergius, 
patriarch of Constantinople, and his followers 
taught that there was only one will in Christ, 
the divine and not a human ; a doctrine, con- 
trary to the mystery of the Redemption. 

VII. Leo, the Isaurian, emperor of Constan- 
tinople, attacked the use and veneration of holy 
images. He and his adherents were called Ico- 
noclasts or image-breakers. 

It is a notable fact that these heresies, Pelagianism ex- 
cepted, sought and found support with the imperial govern- 
ment and often used armed force against ecclesiastical au- 
thority. They prepared the way for the Greek Schism of the 
ninth century. 

45. Q. How did the Church combat these heresies? 

R. i. By general or ecumenical councils, i. e. y 
assemblies of bishops under the direction of the 
popes. 



19 

2. By the decisions and authority of the popes, 
who defended the purity of faith with unremitting 
watchfulness and zeal, and even suffered perse- 
cution for its sake. (St. Martin, St. L,iberius and 
St. Silverius. See list of popes.) 

Almost every one of these heresies was condemned by the 
popes before the councils could meet, and the councils 
solemnly adopted these papal decisions as infallible utter- 
ances of the successors of St. Peter. 

46. Q. Name some ot these councils. 

R. i. The Council of Nice in Asia Minor, op- 
posite Constantinople, condemned Arianism, and 
declared that the Son is true God, consubstantial — 
i. e. , of the same substance — with the Father. 
(A. D. 325.) 

After the council, Arianism, supported by the government, 
began a fierce struggle for power, but met with unflinching 
opposition from the papacy. St. Athanasius and other faith- 
ful bishops, who had been driven from their sees by Arian 
violence, appealed to Rome and were upheld in their rights 
by Pope Julius. When at the synod of Rimini, Emperor Con- 
stantius forced the bishops to sign asemi-arian formula, Pope 
L,iberius firmly rejected it and was sent into exile. But the 
Christian ladies of Rome united in solemn protest against the 
installation of another pope with the words: "One God, one 
Christ, one bishop," and made the emperor recall Liberius. 
Like all heresies Arianism split into sects and steadily de- 
clined. In the Roman empire it was suppressed by an edict 
of Emperor Theodosius, the Great, in the year 380. 

2. The Council of Constantinople (A. D. 381) 
condemned Macedonius and declared the divinity 
of the Holy Ghost. (See list of Popes, p. 100.) 

3. The heresy of Pelagius was condemned by 
the provincial council of Carthage, and finally by 
Pope Innocent I (A. D. 417). 

When the decision of the pope reached the African bishops, 
St. Augustine wrote the famous words: "The acts of two 
councils have been sent to the apostolic see and the answer 



20 

has arrived. The case is finished, let heresy now have 
an end." 

4. The Council of Ephesus (A. D. 431) con- 
demned Nestorius and declared, amidst the re- 
joicing of the whole world, that Mary is truly the 
Mother of God. 

The Fathers of the council replied to the letter of instruc- 
tion, sent by Pope Celestine : "This synod thanks Celestine, 
the new Paul, the guardian of the faith." 

5. The Council of Chalcedon (A. D. 451) con- 
demned Eutyches, and declared that there are two 
natures in Christ, a human and a divine, both in 
one person. When at this council the letter of 
Pope Leo I. was read, the assembled bishops cried 
out : "St. Peter has spoken through Leo," and 
adopted his decision. 

6. The Council of Constantinople (called the 
Trullanum from the church in which it was held, 
A. D. 680) condemned the heresy of the Mono- 
thelites, and declared that there are two w T ills in 
Christ, the divine and the human, both under 
the control of the one divine Person in Christ. 

The council replied to Pope Agatho's letter: "We have 
received your letter as if written by the prince of the apostles 
under divine inspiration, and instructed by it have con- 
demned error." 

7. Iconoclasm was condemned by Pope St. Greg- 
ory II., but the fanatical emperors caused a bloody 
persecution in which sacred images were ruthlessly 
destroyed and many of their defenders martyred. 
In the reign of the pious Empress Irene, Pope 
Hadrian convened the II. council of Nice by which 
this heresy was silenced. (A. D. 787.) 

A few thousand Nestorians and Monophysites survive in 
Persia and Egypt. With the exception of their particular 
heresy they hold the same articles of faith which the Catho- 



21 

lie Church teaches to-day (f. i. 7 sacraments, h. mass, pur- 
gatory etc.) and thus bear witness to her unchanged tradition 
since the beginning of the 5th century. 

47. Q. Who were the holy and learned men that took a 
prominent part in these combats against heresy? 

R. The "Fathers of the Church," who lived 
during these times, were the chief opponents of 
heresy. 

48. Q. To whom was given the title "Fathers of the 
Church V 9 

R. The title l ( Fathers of the Church' ' was given 

to men of great holiness and learning whom God 

sent to His Church during the first centuries, to 

nourish the faith of her children with their sacred 

knowledge, and whose writings have for all times 

become standard' witnesses of Catholic truth. 

40. Q. Name the most noted among the Fathers of the 
Church. 

R. The most noted among the Greek Fathers 

are St. Athanasius, St. Basil, St. Gregory of Na- 

zianzum, and St. John Chrysostom ; among the 

Latin Fathers, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine St. 

Jerome, and St. Gregory the Great. 

50. Q. Give a brief sketch of the lives of the four Greek 
Fathers. 

R. i. St. Athanasius, the Great (296 to 373), 
bishop of Alexandria. — His long life was a con- 
tinual warfare against the Arian heresy. At the 
Council of Nice, where his learning and zeal pre- 
vailed, he completely defeated Arius in open de- 
bate. Five times the Arian rulers sent him into 
exile, but the great confessor of the faith never 
flinched. At his death, Arianism was in a dying 
state all over the Roman empire. 



22 

2. St. Basil, the Great (330 to 374), bishop of 
Caesarea. — A saint, as great and cultured in mind 
as he was ascetic and frail in body. He defeated 
Arianism in the greater portion of Asia Minor and 
composed the monastic rule which has been fol- 
lowed by the religious Orders of the East up to the 
present time. 

So complete was his renunciation of the world, that he re- 
plied with calm dignity to the violent threats of the Ariau 
emperor: "You cannot frighten me with confiscation; for I 
own nothing but this faded dress and a few books; nor with 
exile, for the earth is God's and therefore I am at home 
everywhere; nor with death, for what is that to a man (here 
he lifted up the wrinkled skin on his emaciated hand) who 
is half dead and longs for God." 

3. St. Gregory of Nazianzum (330 to 390), an 
intimate friend of St. Basil. - — His writings were 
considered of such authority, that the historian 
Rufinus wrote of him: "It is the general verdict, 
that whosoever does not agree with St. Gregory, 
cannot be ri^ht in his faith." 

4. St. John Chrysostom (344 to 407), patriarch 
of Constantinople, called "the golden-mouthed" on 
account of his wonderful eloquence. — His zeal 
against the vices of his time brought him perse- 
cution and banishment, which he bore with heroic 
patience. He died on his way to exile uttering the 
words : "Praise to God for all this." 

51. Q. Give a brief sketch of the life of the four great 
Latin Fathers. 

R. 1. St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan (344 to 
397), honored by rulers and people. — Through 
his energy the last remnants of paganism were re- 
moved and Arianism was destroyed throughout 
Italy. He is said to have composed the famous 
hymn TeJDeum. 



23 

When emperor Valentinian demanded a church for the 
Arians of Milan, St. Ambrose answered : "I cannot yield ; the 
emperor is in the Church, but not above the Church." To 
Theodosius, the Great, who had rashly ordered a bloody mas- 
sacre in the rebellious city of Thessalonica, St. Ambrose fear- 
lessly refused entrance into his cathedral, until he had ex- 
piated his sin by public penance. The great emperor showed 
his greatness by submitting to the just demand of so holy a 
bishop. 

2. St. Jerome (331 to 424). — He was a man 
of vast learning, and a personal friend of Pope Da- 
masus, at whose command he translated the Holy 
Scriptures from Hebrew and Greek into Latin. 
This translation, called the Vulgate, became the 
official and standard textbook of the Church. 

3. St. Augustine (354 to 430), bishop of 
Hippo, Northern Africa. — In his youth he had 
fallen into heresy and immorality, but was con- 
verted through the prayers of his holy mother 
Monica and the preaching of St. Ambrose. He 
gave up his brilliant career of lawyer and became 
one of the greatest lights of sacred learning the 
Church ever had. He refuted the heresies of 
the Donatists and the Pelagians. 

St. Augustine embodied the experience of his eventful life 
in the words: "Our heart has been made for God and is rest- 
less, until it rests in God." 

4. St. Gregory, the Great (540 to 605). — 
One of the greatest popes in the see of St. Peter, 
and a true reformer of Church discipline. He is 
the father of plain chant, which is prescribed 
for the solemn service of the Church and is called 
after him "Gregorian Chant. n 

Other prominent Fathers of this period were : 

St. Cyril of Alexandria, the great opponent of Nestorius. 

St. Cyril of Jerusalem who left profound works on the Bl. 

Sacrament. St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Epiphanius. St. 

Ephrem of Syria, a devout servant of the Bl. Virgin. St. Hi- 
3 



24 

lary of Poitiers, who saved France from the bane of Arianism. 
St. Isidore of Spain (A. D. 636), who embodied in his numer- 
ous works the learning of the great epoch of the Fathers as 
an heirloom for succeeding ages. St. John of Damascus 
(eighth century), the last of the Greek Fathers, whose writ- 
ings contain the tradition of the Eastern Church before the 
schism. 

52. Q. Did the successors of Constantine imitate his 
devotediiess to the Church? 

R. While many emperors like Theodosius, 

the Great, followed Constantine' s example and 

protected the Church, others, like Constantins, 

favored heresy, and nearly all attempted to rule 

in Church affairs according to the laws of pagan 

Rome. 

Constantius went so far as to threaten the pope and the 
synod of Milan with drawn sword: "My will shall be your 
law; choose between obedience and exile." Pope Liberius 
rebuked the tyrant with the words: "Meddle not in Church 
affairs and give not precepts, but rather learn them from us." 

53. Q. What emperor tried to revive paganism? 

R. Emperor Julian, called the Apostate, about 
the year 361, tried to revive paganism and to 
suppress the Church, but he failed and fell in 
a battle against the Persians, crying out in de- 
spair : "Galilean, thou hast conquered!" 

Ammianus Marcellinus, a pagan writer of that time, relates, 
that Julian, in order to defeat the prophecy of Christ, com- 
manded the Jews to rebuild the temple, and that an earth- 
quake and fiery balls, issuing from the ground, frustrated his 
blasphemous undertaking. 

Note. — Heresies and false prophets had been foretold by 
Christ and His Apostles. Blinded by passion or by the sug- 
gestion of the devil, men set up their own teaching against 
divine truth and the authority of the Church. But the Church, 
guided by the unerring light of the Holy Ghost, always de- 
tects and condemns these false doctrines, so that divine truth 
is vindicated before the world and thus stands forever in clear 
and distinct outlines before the Christian mind (dogma). 
These constant victories of the Church over the heresies of 
every age prove her infallibility. 



Chapter IV. 
Monastic Life. 

54. Q. What remarkable form of religious life originated 
during the third century ? 

R. During the third century Monastic Life 
originated, which is a life led in seclusion from 
the world, and devoted to the pursuit of higher 
Christian perfection. (Monastic from the Greek 
word monos, i. e., alone.) 

55. Q. In which of Christ's teachings has Monastic Life 
its source? 

R. Monastic Life has its source in the three 
evangelical counsels, which were taught by Christ, 
illustrated by His life, and continually practiced 
in the Church from the time of the apostles. 

The three evangelical counsels are : voluntary poverty, 
chastity, and obedience. 

From the beginning consecrated virgins were numerous 
in the Church. They took their vow before the altar, and the 
bishop conferred the sacred veil upon them with prayer and 
laying on of hands. During the persecutions they lived with 
their families. So did many persons of both sexes who prac- 
tised voluntary poverty, continency, fasting, and prayer, and 
were called ascetics. An apostolic institution was that of 
"widows", who were employed by the Church in ecclesiasti- 
cal and charitable work. St. Ignatius (A. D. 107) w r rote: "I 
greet the houses of my brethren, their wives and children, 
and the virgins, the so-called widows." (Smyrn. 13.) 

56. Q. How did Monastic Life begin and develop? 

R. i. Monastic life began with the hermits, 
who had left the world and retired to the desert, 

(25) 



26 

especially during the persecution of Decius, 250. 
St. Paul, who led the life of a hermit at Thebes, 
in Egypt, died at the age of 115 years. 

An instance of extraordinary mortification was given by 
St. Symon Stylites (f A. D. 450J, who stood for 30 years on a 
pillar near Antioch and converted thousands by his preaching 
and example. Up to the end of the middle ages many 
hermits lived in the deserts, forests and mountains of the 
Christian world and spread faith and piety among the sur- 
rounding people. 

2. Soon the hermits formed congregations, liv- 
ing separately in cells but under a common spiritual 
director, called abbot. St. Anthony of Egypt, one 
of the holiest fathers of the desert, was the chief 
promoter of this form of monastic life. 

3. Finally monasteries were founded, wherein 
the monks lived under a common rule. St. Pacho- 
mius established such in Egypt, St. Hilariou, in 
Palestine, St. Basil in Asia Minor. Monasteries 
for nuns were founded by St. Anthony and St. 
Pachomius whose sisters became the first superiors. 
("Nonna" means a person consecrated to God.) 

4. In the West monastic life found its chief 

patrons in St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Martin 

of Tours, St. Patrick, St. Columba and other great 

and holy bishops. 

St. Martin was called to a higher life by an appearance of 
Christ who thanked him for having given one half of his 
cloak to a beggar. He founded a large monastery near Tours 
where m mv of the great apostolic men of that age were edu- 
cated. 12,000 monks and many consecrated virgins attended 
at his funeral. 

5. St. Benedict (t 543) became the founder of 
the great Benedictine order, and compiled his 
famous rule in which prayer, study, manual labor, 



27 • 

silence, and mortification are harmoniously blended. 
Pope Gregory, the Great, was an ardent protector 
of this order. It soon spread over Europe and 
founded 37,000 convents. 

St. Benedict was born in the year 480. He led a life of 
prayer and penance in the solitude of Subiaco. The fame of 
his holiness attracted many disciples, and he established a 
monastery at Monte Casino, which became the motherhouse 
of his order. When his end approached, he asked to be car- 
ried to the church, where he received the last sacraments and 
died standing, supported by his disciples. 

57. Q. What was the effect of the awakening of this 
monastic spirit upon the world? 

R. So great became the longing for higher per- 
fection, that within a short time, the East and the 
West abounded in monasteries, which became the 
homes of holiness and learning. 

The Benedictine Order alone produced 1,500 canonized 
Saints. 

58. Q. In what manner did the Church of these early 
ages reconcile her fallen children % 

R. Besides the Sacrament of Penance there 
was a well organized system of public penance, 
which consisted of four degrees and was instituted 
for certain sins. 

The first degree contained the weeping, who had 
to stand outside the church ; second degree the 
hearing who assisted at mass until after the gospel 
and sermon ; third degree the kneeling ; fourth de- 
gree the standing ; the two latter remained to the 
end of mass but were separated from the faithful 
and debarred from holy communion. 

With maternal care the Church led her children through 
these penitential stages to a pure and holy life. So great and 



28 

general became this ascetic spirit in the history of the Church 
that even princes like Theodosius the Great, Charlemagne, 
Otto I. of German}', St. Louis of France, Philip II. of Spain, 
and many others used cilice and discipline (i. e. hairshirt 
and scourgej. 

Note. — Holiness is the second mark of the Church, and it 
manifests itself in a special manner through the practice of 
the evangelical counsels, by which the closest resemblance to 
the life of our Lord is attained. By far the larger number of 
Saints canonized by the Church have sprung from Monastic 
Life, and throughout the history of Christianity the religious 
orders have produced the richest blossoms of sanctity, and 
have been prominent centers from which faith, piety, and 
sacred learning radiated into the world. 

The great and apostolic men, who converted the nations of 
Europe, as we shall see in the next chapter, were either 
monks or had received their training in monasteries and 
established such as centres for christianizing the people. 
Their ascetic lives not only filled the sensual heathens with 
awe and reverence, but also drew down God's blessing upon 
their missionary labors. 

In the times of barbarism that followed the migration of 
nations and the downfall of the Roman Empire, ancient 
civilization sought and found shelter and loving care in the 
Benedictine monasteries. Numbers of monks were busy in 
copying and multiplying the Holy Scriptures and whatever 
books of sacred and secular learning could be rescued. Others 
were engaged in architecture, sculpture, carving, painting, 
and music; others studied medicine and gave free attendance 
to all. Pilgrims and travellers enjoyed their hospitality, gen- 
erously bestowed for Christ's sake. At their monasteries the 
sons and daughters of princes, knights, and citizens received 
an education. The monks cleared the forests, tilled the 
fields, planted vineyards and orchards, and provided the 
country with roads, canals, and bridges. Their lives were a 
continuous "Ora et labora" (i. e. pray and work). 



Chapter V. 

The Church and the Barbarian Nations of 
Europe. 

59. Q, What great event threatened to destroy Christian* 
ity and ancient civilization in Western Europe ? 

R. The migration of nations, which occurred 
from the fourth to the seventh centuries, threatened 
to destroy Christianity and ancient civilization in 
Western Europe. The Roman empire of the West 
fell before its force in the year 475, and the bar- 
barian Goths, Franks, Vandals, Sueves, Lombards, 
Saxons, and other German tribes, founded new 
states over its ruins. 

60. Q. Which was the most barbarous nation of tMs 
epoch ? 

R. The Huns, a nation of Mongolian descent, 
that had come from Asia and overrun Western 
Europe in. the fifth century„ Their king, Attila, 
called himself the * 'scourge of God'' and ravaged 
Germany and France with fire and sword. When 
he fell upon Italy, Pope Leo, the Great, went to 
meet him. Struck by the Pope's venerable appear- 
ance, and threatened by a heavenly apparition, 
Attila agreed to leave Italy and returned to 
Hungary. 

61. Q. What course did the Church pursue in dealing 
with these savage nations ? 

R. The Church, conscious of her divine mis- 
sion, undertook at once to become the teacher and 
spiritual mother of these barbarians. 

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30 

62. Q. In what manner did she set abont this task? 

R. The Church sent missionaries, who preached 
the Gospel to them and established churches and 
schools in their midst. 

63. Q. How did Divine Providence aid the Church in 
this great work? 

R. About the year 500, St. Benedict founded 
the great Benedictine Order, which became the 
providential instrument for christianizing and civil- 
izing these barbarian nations. 

64. (J. How was this accomplished? 

R. The holy monks established convents in the 
wild forests, cleared and cultivated the land, taught 
the people religion and morality, established schools 
for their education and instructed them in agri- 
culture, the trades and the arts. 

65. Q. Name some of the great missionaries of this 
epoch. 

R. St. Patrick converted Ireland about the 
year 432. At Tara, he addressed the assembled 
chieftains of Ireland and explained the mystery of 
the Blessed Trinity by using the shamrock as its 
symbol. Like his friend, St. Martin of Tours, he 
founded monasteries all over the island. The con- 
vent for nuns, founded by St. Bridget (490) at 
Kildare, became important for the education of the 
daughters of the nation. 

After a life of sublime holiness, great apostolic 
labors and many miracles, St. Patrick died about 
the year 493, having brought the whole country 
into the fold of Christ. 

Scotland was converted by St. Ninian and St. 
Columba. 



31 

St. Ninian, friend of St. Martin of Tours and son of a 
British king, " studied at Rome, where Pope Siricius con- 
secrated him bishop of Scotland. He brought the gospel to 
the southern parts of that country and founded the monastery 
of Withern, as a center of his labors, (f 430.) 

St. Columba, an Irish monk of great learning, evangelized 
northern Scotland. On the island of Hy (Hebrides) he 
founded the famous monastery of Iona, which was during 
many centuries the nursery of apostolic men for the northern 
countries, (t 597 J 

66. Q. When was England converted? 

R. England, in ancient times called Britain, re- 
ceived the tidings of faith as early as the be- 
ginning of the second century, but the invasion of 
the pagan Anglo-Saxons (A. D. 448) almost de- 
stroyed Christianity. 

Lucius, a British King, was baptized in the time of Pope 
Bleuthenus, and St. Alban, first martyr of England, suffered 
in the persecution of Diocletian. 

67. Q. What pope sent missionaries to the Anglo-Saxons ? 

R. Pope Gregory, the Great, sent St. Austin 
with forty Benedictine monks to England. Assisted 
by the influence of pious Queen Bertha, they con- 
verted King Ethelbert and his people. (A. D. 596. ) 

On one occasion, St. Gregory, passing through the streets 
of Rome, saw ^ English captives in the market place, and, 
struck by their beauty, inquired who they were. When in- 
formed, that they were Angles, he exclaimed: "Not Angles, 
but angels !" and resolved to christianize their country. 

68. Q. Who brought the gospel to the Netherlands? 

R. St. Piatus and St. Servatius preached in 
the Netherlands during the third and fourth cen- 
turies ; after the migration of nations St. Eligius, 
St. Amand, St. Willibrord, and St. L,ambert com- 
pleted the work. 



32 

69. Q. How was France converted? 

R. France, in ancient times called Gaul, was 
evangelized during and shortly after the apostolic 
times, by Lazarus, Martha, Magdalen, Dionysius, 
and other disciples of the apostles, but was torn 
from the Church by the immigration of the pagan 
Franks. 

70. Q. How was France brought back to the Church* 

R. Clovis, the king, was led to the faith by 
his holy wife Clotilda. In a battle with the 
Allemanni, being nearly defeated, he called upon 
Christ, the God of Clotilda, and gained a complete 
victory. He was baptized by St. Remigius in 
496, and brought his people with him into the 
Church. 

When the great warrior king approached the baptismal 
font, St. Remigius said: "Bow thy head, proud Sigambriau, 
and adore' what thou hast burnt, and burn what thou hast 
adored!" 

71. Q. How was Spain christianized? 

R. Spain had received the faith from St. Paul, 
St. James, and the disciples of the Apostles ; but, 
during the migration of nations, the Arian Visi- 
goths tore Spain from the Church. Through the 
martyrdom of Prince Hermenegild, and the teach- 
ing of St. Leander and St. Isidore, King Reccared 
was converted and brought the country back to the 
Church under Pope Gregory about 595. 

72. Q. How was Germany christianized 2 

R. The countries along the Rhine and Danube 
were converted by disciples of the Apostles. St. 
Helena, mother of Constantine, lived at Treves in 
325, and bishops resided there, and at Cologne. 



33 

Mayence and in many cities of southern Germany. 
But, after the savage nations had overrun Germany, 
holy missionaries, mainly from England and Ire- 
land, brought the Gospel to them. St. Seven n 
preached in Austria, St. Fridolin in Baden, St. 
Columba and St. Gall in Switzerland, St. Kilian 
and St. Rupert in Bavaria during the 5th, 6th and 
7th centuries. 

73. (J. TFI10 was the greatest apostle of Germany? 

R. St. Winfrid, an English Benedictine monk, 
to whom Pope Gregory II. gave the name of 
Boniface, converted middle and northern Germany. 
(8th century.) 

74. Q. How did he overcome the stubbornness of the 
savage Germans? 

R. With an ax he cut down the famous sacred 
oak of their god Donar, and built out of its wood 
the first Christian Church. He founded many 
bishoprics, built convents and schools for the edu- 
cation of young men, and brought into the land 
holy women like St. Thecla, St. Lioba and St. 
Walburgis, who established convents for the educa- 
tion of the daughters of the nation. 

75. Q. How were Sweden, Norway, and Denmark con- 
verted? 

R. The great Apostle St. Ansgar sowed the 
seed of the gospel in Sweden about 850. King 
Canute, at the instance of his holy queen Emma, 
completed the conversion of Denmark. King Olaf 
completed that of Sweden, and King Olaf, the 
Holy, that of Norway, about the tenth century. 



34 

Iceland and Greenland had bishops about the year 
iooo. 

76. Q. What about the Lombards in Northern Italy? 

R. The Lombards had destroyed the Christian 
religion in northern Italy, but were converted 
through the influence of Pope Gregory, the Great, 
and Queen Theodolinda a daughter of the Duke 
of Bavaria. 

77. Q. Who converted the Slavonic nations? 

R. St. Cyril and St. Methodius, sent by the Pope 
in the year 870, converted a large number of Slavo- 
nians. King Borzivoi and his Queen St. Ludmilla, 
with the help of missionaries from Germany, es- 
tablished Christianity in Bohemia. St. Adalbert 
of Prague became the Apostle of Prussia about the 
year 1000. Poland was evangelized about the 
same time through the influence of its Prince 
Miesko I. St. Stephen, King of Hungary, com- 
pleted the conversion of his country with the help 
of apostolic missionaries from Germany about the 
year 1000. Russia was received into the Church 
under Czar Wladimir (A. D. 1000). 

Bl. Olga, his mother, who had been baptized at Constan- 
tinople, obtained missionaries from Otto I., emperor of Ger- 
many. While the idols were cast into the river arid his 
people approached for baptism, Wladimir knelt on the bank, 
invoking God's blessing. 

78. Q. TYhat emperor exercised the greatest influence 
in forming a Christian commonwealth in western and 
middle Europe? 

R. Charlemagne, ruler of the Prankish em- 
pire, which comprised the larger portion of western 
and middle Europe. He was crowned by Pope 



35 

Leo III. on Christmas day (A. D. 800) as Roman 
emperor of the West and protector of the Church. 
He pacified Europe, built cities, colleges, schools 
and churches, erected bishoprics, protected popes 
and bishops, and was the great ideal of a Christian 
statesman, whose equal , the world has never seen 
since. 

Charlemagne (Charles the Great) sought the spiritual and 
temporal welfare of his people in union with the Church. 
He gathered around himself holy and learned men and placed 
the famous scholar Alcuin over the imperial school at Tours, 
whence trained teachers were sent out to establish higher and 
elementary schools throughout the empire. ^ He spoke Latin, 
understood Greek and even Hebrew. He died at the age of 
72 years, fortified by the holy sacraments and making the 
sign of the Cross. His last words were: "Father, into Thy 
hands I commend my spirit." His body was placed in the 
imperial tomb under the cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle, sitting 
on a throne and vested in imperial costume ; but under the 
purple was the penitential hairshirt which he had worn all 
his life. 

NoTB. — Before the Church converted and civilized these 
barbarian nations, they were steeped in gross idolatry, fero- 
cious in war, enslaved to great vices, and roamed the forest 
in a savage state. The civilized and cultured Christian na- 
tions, who to-day rule the world, are their descendants. 
They owe their greatness chiefly to the Catholic Church. But 
the process of their education required patient toil and firm- 
ness, tempered by charity, and these the Church bestowed 
upon them with motherly care during the Middle Ages. 

The spirit of our modern times is different. In spite of 
professing "humanity", its advancing step brought to the 
Indian population of the North American continent, not 
civilization, but extirpation. Such is the difference of results 
between the Church which works for the sake of God, and 
modern thought which works for the sake of man. 



Chapter VI. 

Origin of Church Property and the Temporal 
Power of the Popes. 

79. Q. In what manner did the Church acquire temporal 
possessions among the newly converted nations? 

R. i. The early missionaries, bishops, and es- 
pecially the religious Orders, who settled down 
among the barbarian nations, cleared and cultivated 
the soil in the wild forests, which they had either 
bought or received as gifts. 

2. In gratitude for the gift of faith, the bound- 
less charity, and civilizing influence of the Church, 
princes and people made frequent gifts of lands 
to her for the foundation and endowment of in- 
stitutions devoted to religion, education, and charity. 

3. Around cathedrals and abbeys, people settled 
down, forming counties, villages and cities, and 
freely chose the temporal government of bishops 
and abbots, preferring their mild rule to that of 
secular loms. Emperors and kings favored this 
as conducive to the stability and order of the realm, 
and made bishops and abbots feudal lords over their 
bishoprics and lands. 

Feudalism developed during the middle ages. It was a 
system wherein inferior lords hereditarily held, used and 
governed lauds and provinces, transferred in trust by the 
priuoe, for which they were bound to swear allegiance to him 
and render military and other services. In the unsettled 
state of Europe, caused by the migration of nations, Feud- 
alism sprang up from the needs of the time and became a 

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37 

great element of public order, but, in course of time decayed 
and fell. Prelates becoming feudal lords over their temporal 
possessions and vassals of princes, gave to the state far more 
than the Church got in return from the state. Many evils 
were brought on the Church by princes, who on the strength 
of their feudal rights, interfered with the appointment of 
bishops and abbots in behalf of their own favorites. Too often 
they succeeded in placing worldly men into sacred offices 
either by open force or by simony and in open defiance of 
ecclesiastical law and authority. The popes, especially Greg- 
ory VII., firmly opposed and fought this baneful influence 
of Feudalism in the Church. It is a great mistake to con- 
found the principle of union between Church and state with 
ecclesiastical Feudalism. 

80. Q. What was the origin of the temporal power of 
the popes,or the pontifical states 2 

R. i. From trie first centuries of trie Christian 
era, the popes received frequent donations of estates 
in and around Rome through the generosity of 
devout wealthy Christian families. Up to the sev- 
enth century, the possessions of the Holy See had 
grown to such an extent that they comprised a 
large portion of middle Italy. They were called 
the Patrimony of St. Peter. 

2. After the seventh century the emperors who 
resided at Constantinople, had virtually abandoned 
their rights and left Rome and Italy exposed to 
the invasions of barbarian nations. In this distress 
the people turned to the Holy See for protection, 
and the popes repeatedly saved Rome from destruc- 
tion and acted as rulers, chosen spontaneously by 
the people. 

3. Finally, when the Lombards attempted the 
conquest of Rome, and all demands for help were 
left unanswered by the emperor, Pope Stephen II. 
appealed to Pepin, king of the Franks. The Lom- 
bards were defeated and Rome delivered. Pepin 



38 

restored trie Patrimony of St. Peter to the Pope, 
and laid the keys of the cities, taken from the 
Lombards, on the tomb of St. Peter, in token of 
their donation to the Holy See. Charlemagne, his 
son, confirmed this donation. Thus the temporal 
power of the pope originated, and it rests on most 
just and legitimate titles. 

81. (J. How did the establishment of the temporal power 
affect the relation of the Holy See to the nations? 

R. i. The establishment of the temporal power 
made the Holy See more independent in ruling 
the Church, and freed it from that dangerous inter- 
ference, which the emperors after Constantine had 
almost continually claimed and practiced as an 
imperial right. 

2. It placed the Holy See on neutral ground, 
whence it could deal without suspicion of partiality 
with the new and independent Christian states, 
formed after the downfall of the Roman Empire of 
the West. 

The establishment of the temporal power at such a time 
was providential. 

This property, continually increasing through pious gifts 
and bequests, enabled the Church to establish an all- 
embracing system of charity, managed mainly by the religious 
orders and pervaded by the gentle spirit of Christ. There were 
hospitals for the sick, asylums for orphans and old people, 
for cripples, for the insane, and the homeless. When, after 
the crusades, leprosy swept over Europe, homes for its unfor- 
tunate victims were abundantly provided. The parish poor 
were cared for, not as paupers, but as "guests of Christ". 
Churches and convents received numerous endowments from 
which the poor and sick received medicines, clothing, and 
daily food. Other foundations were made to have prayers 
and masses offered for the repose of the suffering souls. 

Such were the beneficent results which accrued to man- 
kind from the property of the Church. 



Chapter VII. 
Mohammedanism. — The Greek Schism. 

82. Q. What great dangers arose to threaten Christian 
civilization in the seventh century 2 

R. Mohammed, a native of Arabia, arose about 
trie year 622 and taught a false religion, which he 
compiled from old pagan ideas and from the Christ- 
ian and Jewish religions and embodied in the 
Koran. He was an impostor and an immoral man. 
He preached a blind ruling of fate, fanaticism, 
bloodshed, and the grossest immoralities. The 
great tenet of his faith is : "God alone is God, and 
Mohammed is his prophet. " 

83. Q. How did his religion succeed? 

R. It preached bloody war against all nations, 
promised paradise to every Mohammedan who 
should fall in such a war, and thus his adherents 
conquered and plundered the countries of the East. 

84. Q. How did they treat the Christian countries? 

R. They took Palestine, Syria, Persia, Asia 
Minor, Northern Africa, and Spain, and reduced 
the Christian population to the lowest condition of 
poverty and oppression. 

They would have conquered western Europe, 
had not the Franks under Charles Martel beaten 
their immense army in the battle of Tours 
(A. D. 732). 

They finally took Constantinople and the Balkan 
peninsula, and would have conquered Germany, 
had they nqt been overcome by Austria und Poland. 
4 (39) ' 



40 

85. (J. "What did the conquest of Jerusalem by the Mo- 
hammedans cause ? 

R. The conquest of Jerusalem caused the great 
crusades of European chivalry for the deliverance 
of the Holy Sepulchre of Our Lord. 

Mohammedanism with its conquests and oppression be- 
came a scourge to the countries of the East, that had rebelled 
so often by heresies and schism against the divinely instituted 
authority of the Church. Atthesametime Divine Providence 
used it as a means to unite the Christian nations of Europe 
and to direct their warlike energies from internal feuds to 
enterprises of heroic faith and charity. 

86. Q. What is schism? 

R. Schism is the separation from the Church 
through rebellion against the authority of the Pope; 
it differs from heresy in this, that it retains the 
doctrines of the Church. | 

87. Q. What schism happened in the Church! 

R. About the middle of the ninth century, 
Photius, who, through intrigues, had become 
patriarch of Constantinople, refused allegiance to 
the papacy, and, supported by the emperors, drew 
the church of the Greek empire, of Asia Minor, 
Syria, Palestine, and Egypt into schism. After the 
twelfth century the Russian empire also became 
schismatic. 

Ignatius, the saintly patriarch of Constantinople, had pub- 
licly refused holy communion to Bardas, uncle and adviser 
of Emperor Michael III., on account of his immoral and 
scandalous life. The angry courtier persuaded his weak 
nephew to depose Ignatius and appoint Photius, a layman, to 
the patriarchal dignity, contrary to canon law. Ignatius ap- 
pealed to Rome and "was upheld by the pope; but Photius 
rebelled and the schism began. 

88. Q. Were the Greeks united again with the Church? 
R. Yes, the Greeks were united again with the 

Church at the VIII. general council, held in Con- 



41 

stantinople (A. D. 870), and although Photius 
made another attempt at rebellion, they fully sub- 
mitted to Pope Formosus. 

89. (J. "When did they relapse into schism? . 

R. Patriarch Michael Cerularius rebelled again 
and was excommunicated by Pope L,eo IX. in the 
eleventh century. In the year 1439, at the general 
council of Florence, the Greek bishops submitted 
again and were received into the Church. But a 
few years later the schism was renewed. Then 
God gave them into the hands of the Turks, who 
took Constantinople in the year 1453 and made the 
Greek Church a slave to the Turkish Sultan. 

The church of Russia separated from the patriarch of 
Constantinople in the 16th century, but was made a state 
church by the despotic czar Peter, the Great, who became its 
head (A. D. 1721). Since then the czars direct its affairs 
through the Holy Synod, a council of bishops and laymen 
appointed by them. 

90, Q. What does history teach about the patriarchs of 
Constantinople, who claimed equality with the Pope 2 

R. The patriarchs were involved in most of 
the heresies of the first 700 years, — for instance r 
Macedonius, Sergius, Nestorius. The popes, on 
the contrary, defended the truth and have never 
failed, because they are the infallible successors of 
St. Peter, to whom Christ had said: "I have prayed 
for thee, that thy faith fail not," and : "Thou art 
Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church." 

NoTE. — Since the Greek Church has been separated from 
the centre of Catholic unity, it has become stagnant and 
barren. Subject to the state, with an ignorant, married 
clergy, it has languished within its old confines, has not 
evangelized or converted a single nation, nor produced an 
ecclesiastical literature. Like a cut-off branch it lies wither- 
ing, while the parent tree, the Catholic Church, grows and 
spreads over the world with undiminished vigor. 



Chapter VIII. 
The Crusades. 

91. Q. What were the crusades? 

R. The crusades were sacred wars, undertaken 
by the chivalry of Christian nations for the de- 
liverance of the Holy Land and the Sepulchre of 
Our Lord from Mohammedan oppression. 

The name crusader is derived from the cross, which the 
warriors wore on their breasts as a sign of their undertaking. 

92. Q. Name the principle crusades. 

R. The First Crusade was preached by Peter 
the Hermit, who had returned from the Holy 
Land. He had witnessed the desecration of the 
holy places, where Our Lord suffered and died. 
Riding on a donkey through Europe, he aroused 
the Christian people by his fiery eloquence. At 
the great assembly of Clermont, under Pope 
Urban II., princes, knights, and people took the 
cross with the enthusiastic cry, "God wills it." 
Duke Godfrey of Bouillon led the immense army, 
and on July 15, 1099, Jerusalem was delivered 
from the Turks and became a Christian kingdom, 
with Godfrey as its king. 

The Second Crusade was under the leadership of 
Emperor Conrad III. of Germany, and Louis VII. 
of France, in the year 1147. It was preached by 
St. Bernard. 

The Third Crusade, in 1189, was led by the em- 
peror of Germany, Frederick Barbarossa, who 

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43 

gained brilliant victories over immense Turkish 
armies, but died suddenly at Tarsus while swim- 
ming on his horse through the Kalykadnus river. 
Philip Augustus, king of France, and the chival- 
rous Richard Lionheart, king of England, con- 
tinued the crusade against the famous Sultan 
Saladin. 

The Fourth Crusade took place in the year 1203 
under Baldwin of Flanders. It ended with the 
capture of Constantinople and the erection of the 
so-called Latin Empire on the Balkan Peninsula. 

The Fifth Crusade took place in the year 121 7 
under King Andrew II. of Hungary and Duke 
Leopold of Austria. 

In the year 12 12, thousands of children formed 
an army and went singing and praying through 
Europe for the deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre. 
It was called the Children's Crusade. 

The last two crusades were undertaken by St. 
Louis IX., king of France. 

When about to enter upon his last voyage (1270), St. Louis 
stood on the deck of his ship, holding the banner of France, 
and, looking once more towards his country and then up to 
Heaven, he said : "Now I have no other kingdom but that of 
Heaven." He died a holy death during the siege of Tunis in 
Africa. 

93. Q. What were the results of the crusades? 

R. 1. The crusades caused a great revival of 
religious fervor and Catholic unity. 

2. They elevated the standard of Christian 
knighthood. 

3. They advanced knowledge, science, and art. 

4. They developed commerce and navigation. 



44 

5. They improved the condition of the lower 
and middle classes and increased the spirit of liberty 
and public charity. 

94. Q. What great orders of Christian knights were 
founded in the Middle Ages for the defense of the Holy 
Sepulchre ? 

R. i. Knights of St. John (A. D. 1099). 
Their military cloaks were black, with a large 
white cross. After the fall of Jerusalem, they 
moved to the Island of Rhodes and finally to Malta. 
Theirs is a record of grand faith, heroic bravery, 
and unstained honor. 

2. Knights Templars (A. D. 1118), so called, 
because their fortified convent stood on the site of 
Solomon's -Temple. Their cloaks were white, 
with a red cross. The order was abolished in 131 1 
by the council of Vienne at the urgent request of 
King Philip, the Fair, of France. 

3. German Knights (A. D. 1 143). Theircloaks 
were white, with a black cross. In the year 1226 
they moved from Palestine to Prussia, where they 
defended the Christians against the inroads of the 
heathens. 

95. Q. What did these knightly orders do ? 

R. These orders of knights protected and de- 
fended the pilgrims who came to the Holy Land, 
and fought the Turks in defense of the Holy 
Sepulchre. 

The deep faith and piety, which animated these monks in 
armor, appear in the ritual of their reception: "Do you so- 
lemnly promise, beloved brother, in the name of God and the 
Blessed Virgin, to practice faithfully a lifelong obedience to 
your superiors ? Do you promise perpetual celibacy and per- 
fect purity of soul and body ? Do you pledge yourself to re- 



45 

nounce for ever all worldly goods, and to serve the order in 
poverty and submission, and to risk your life for the deliver- 
ance of the Holy Land ? As you promise each and all of 
these things we receive you into the holy brotherhood, and 
promise you bread and water, the simple garb of our monas- 
tery, and labor and trials in abundance." 

96. Q. Did the Turks continue to be a grave danger to 
Europe and Christianity % 

R. The Turks continued to be a grave (ganger 
to Europe and Christianity. In the year 1453 they 
took Constantinople and the Balkan peninsula, and 
threatened Europe by continual attacks. The 
Angelus prayer was introduced to invoke God's 
help in the wars between the Cross and the crescent. 

97. Q In which great battles was the Turkish power 
finally reduced % 

R. 1. Through the zealous efforts of Pope 
Pius V., a great fleet under Don Juan d' Austria 
was formed, and it annihilated the Turkish navy 
in a brilliant victory at Lepanto (A. D. 1571). 
Thus the Turkish power, on sea, was broken for- 
ever. 

i 2. In the year 1683, the Turkish land army was 
completely routed before the city of Vienna by 
Christian forces, composed of Poles under King 
Sobiesky, and of Germans under Charles of Lor- 
raine . 

1 3. In the battle of Belgrade (A.D. 1717) Prince 
Eugene, famous as a Christian general in the songs 
of the people, destroyed the Turkish power on 
land. 

98. Q. How was the Mohammedan power broken in 
Spain and Portugal 2 

R, From the time of the conquest of Spain and 



46 

Portugal by the Mohammedans in trie 8 th century, 
the Christian chivalry fought them by continual 
crusades and with heroic bravery, until in the 
reign of Ferdinand and Isabella (A. D. 1492), the 
last Mohammedan ruler was forced to surrender 
and to leave the peninsula. 

99. Q. To whom principally is the destruction of the 
terrible Turkish danger due ? 

R. The destruction of the Turkish power is 
due, mainly, to the popes who rallied the Christian 
nations to the defense, bore the greatest expense of 
these wars, and obtained divine help, through the 
recital of the Rosary and the Angelus in all Chris- 
tian lands. 

Note. — Chivalry or Christian knighthood of the middle 
ages owed all its grandeur to the elevating influence of the 
Church. Before her altar the candidate for knighthood had 
to bind himself by a solemn vow to defend the faith, the 
weak, and his country. Thus the warlike and indomitable 
spirit of the barbarian nations, which she had converted, was 
softened and consecrated to noble and ideal aims. 



Chapter IX. 
Church and State in the Middle Ages. 

100. Q. What great principle ruled the relation of 
Church and State during the Middle Ages ? 

R. The principle that Church and State should 
he in friendly union, both independent in their 
own spheres, but protecting and helping each other 
in order to promote the honor and glory of God 
and the eternal and temporal welfare of the people. 

101. Q. How was this principle realized? 

R. i. The nations, grateful to the Church, 
that had converted and civilized them, protected 
her through their constitutions and laws in her di- 
vine mission. 

2. They used her powerful and willing help for 
promoting order and law, higher and elementary 
education, public works of charity, and whatever 
tended to the welfare of the people. 

3. United by the bond of Catholic faith and 
charity, they formed one great Christian common- 
wealth of nations, of which the Pope was the spiri- 
tual head, while the Roman Emperor of the Ger- 
man Nation acted as his anointed protector. 

The pope9 were recognized peacemakers between the na- 
tions of Christendom, and so were bishops and abbots in their 
narrower spheres. In order to lessen the frequent feuds or 
petty wars among the nobility, the councils of the Church 
established the so-called "truce of God", which forbade un- 
der pain of excommunication to have feuds from Wednesday 
night till Monday morning, and during Advent, Lent and 
Easter time. 

(47) 



48 

Weaker princes and downtrodden peoples found protection 
against tyrannical rulers with the great father of Christendom. 

Popes and councils combined to reduce slavery, to protect 
commerce by land and sea and to promote public safety and 
order. Universities and all institutions of education and 
charity eujoyed the special protection of the popes. 

102. Q. Give some prominent examples of this relation. 

R. England. King Alfred raised England from 
ruin and disorder with the help of the Church, and 
throughout the Middle Ages the kings of England, 
with few exceptions, followed his example. Eng- 
land was called the dowry of Our Blessed Lady. 

Scotland. Kings like Malcolm III. and his 
queen St. Margaret, in union with the Church, led 
their country to religious and temporal prosperity. 

Ireland. From the time of St. Patrick to the 
disastrous invasion of the Danes, the princes of 
Ireland were in closest union with the Church and 
Ireland flourished as a free nation, the island of 
Saints, and the cradle of learning for Northern 
Europe. 

The Erankish Empire became the greatest and 
most admired of all nations through Charlemagne, 
the friend and anointed protector of the Church. 

Norway, under rulers like St. Olaf and St. Erich, 
Sweden, under Olaf and Magnus, Denmark, under 
Canute, the Great, ahd St. Canute, flourished as 
Christian and civilized nations of the North, for- 
merly the home of savage pirates. 

Poland became one of the greatest Christian na- 
tions during the Middle Ages, and, ever grateful 
and true to the Church for her blessings, was the 
bulwark of Christian civilization in Europe against 
the fierce Turks. 



49 

Spain and Portugal, aided by the Church, shook 
off the Mohammedan yoke, grew in strength and 
wealth, and extended their power to America, 
Africa, and Asia. 

France, called the oldest daughter of the Church, 
was, under rulers like St. Louis IX., a great 
Christian nation, the cradle of the crusades, and 
blessed in its religious as well as its temporal 
affairs, so that "the work of God done through the 
French" became proverbial in history. 

Hungary. From the time of King St. Stephen, 
it remained in close union with the Popes, who 
favored it as the bulwark of Christian Europe 
against the inroads of the heathens. Thus the 
former home of the barbarous Huns had become 
the land of the chivalrous nation, called the King- 
dom of Mary. 

Germany was a great Catholic empire. Its em- 
perors were anointed and crowned by the Popes, 
and its national unity was strengthened by the 
bond of the One, Holy, Catholic faith. 

Switzerland, the ancient free republic, found its 
liberty blessed and safeguarded by the Church. 

The republics of Italy, Venice, Genoa, Florence, 
and others, testify by their history and the mon- 
uments of their former greatness, that they pros- 
pered in their union with the Church. 

103. Q. How did tjie people judge of ecclesiastical power 
and its influence 2 

R. The people loved the influence of eccle- 
siastical power, which defended the rights of the 
governed and the downtrodden, checked the ex- 
cesses of princely rulers, and governed its own 



50 

subjects with mildness. Hence the proverb: "It 
is good to live under the crosier." 

104, Q. Was this union neyer disturbed % 

R. Yes ; emperors and kings repeatedly en- 
croached on the sacred rights of the Church, in 
order to increase their own power. 

105. Q. Name some examples. 

R. i. Emperor Henry IV. of Germany dared to 
appoint bishops, and sold ecclesiastical offices ; but 
Pope Gregory VII. vigorously defended the rights 
of the Church. Henry had to yield and did pen- 
ance for this sacrilege at Canossa, A. D. 1076. 
Soon after he relapsed, and invading Rome with 
an army, forced Gregory to flee to Salerno. There 
the great defender of ecclesiastical rights and pub- 
lic morality died, uttering the words of the psalm- 
ist: "I have loved justice and hated iniquity; 
therefore I die in exile." But God's judgment 
followed the imperial offender. His own son re- 
volted and robbed him of crown and power. He 
died a fugitive and excommunicated. 

2. Emperor Frederic Barbarossa of Germany not 
only infringed on the rights of the Church, but 
even undertook sacrilegiously to enthrone an anti- 
pope and depose Alexander III.; but a terrible 
pestilence broke out and destroyed his army. Ter- 
rified by this judgment of God, he sought and 
obtained reconciliation with the Church. 

Henry VI. and Frederic II. , emperors of Germany 
and successors of Barbarossa, committed great and 
manifold wrongs against the Church and the Holy 
See, from which their family (Hohenstauffen) had 
received innumerable blessings. Frederic was ex- 



51 

communicated by the council of Lyons, and his 
young grandson Conradin, the last of this proud 
imperial race, met with a sad death under the ax 
of an executioner. 

3. King Henry II. of England passed laws (Ar- 
ticles of Clarendon, 11 64), arrogating rights of the 
Church to his crown (for example, appointment of 
bishops), forbidding appeal's to Rome, etc. St. 
Thomas & Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, who 
opposed such proceedings, was assassinated. But 
the excommunication of the Pope and the indigna- 
tion of the people forced the king to sue for peace. 

4. Philip, the Fair, king of France, made sim- 
ilar claims, detrimental to the liberty of the 
Church, which were developed by his successors 
and called Gallican liberties. Pope Boniface VIII. 
was insulted and made prisoner by the king's 
minions, but set free by his own faithful subjects. 
The last days of the king's life were sad, and he 
died an object of hatred to his people. His three 
sons died in quick succession, and this line of the 
royal family of the Capets became extinct. 

106. Q. What was understood by the dispute about the 
Bight of Investiture ? 

R. It was a dispute between the popes and the 
princes about the right to invest newly elected 
bishops and abbots with ring and crosier. While 
the popes claimed this right on account of the 
spiritual power, which they conferred upon these 
prelates, the princes claimed it on account of the 
temporal power, which the prelates received from 
them as their vassals. 



52 

107. Q. How was this dispute settled 1 

R. This dispute was finally settled between 
Pope Calixtus II. and Henry V., emperor of Ger- 
many, by the Concordat of Worms (1122), so that 
the pope should invest the prelates with ring and 
crosier as emblems of their spiritual power, and 
the emperor should confer the temporal power by 
his imperial sceptre. ' 

108. Q. Which was the most dangerous heresy of the 
Middle Ages % 

R. The heresy of the Albigenses, which during 
the 13th century, had secretly spread over the 
countries of Europe. They denied the Incarnation 
and Redemption, taught that the world had been 
created by an evil spirit, and held doctrines de- 
structive of marriage and of order in Church and 
State. The Church excommunicated them and the 
State punished them as criminals. 

The Waldenses were a small sect, founded by Peter of 
Lyons, a layman. They preached voluntary poverty, but 
soon became disobedient to the Church and fell into errors, 
similar to those of later Protestantism, by which their scat- 
tered remnants were greatly patronized. 

109. Q. Iu what manner did the Church prerent the 
spreading of this secret and dangerous heresy? 

R. The fourth General Council of the Lateran, 
held by Pope Innocent III. (A. D. 1215), estab- 
lished the Inquisition, an ecclesiastical tribunal, 
by which persons, accused of this heresy, were 
tried and, if penitent, reconciled to the Church ; 
if obstinate, handed over to the secular power. 

1. By order of Christ and from apostolic time the Church 
guards the faith, w^rns against false teachers and excom- 
municates them. (Gal. 1, 8; Tit. 3, 10; 2. Tim. 4, 2.) The 



53 

Roman Inquisition acts in this manner to the present time ; 
but has never shed a drop of blood. 

2. The Christian states of the middle ages punished this 
and similar heresies more or less severely, because they 
threatened the existing order, established by law. For the 
same reason in our own time France punished the com- 
munists, and the United States, the anarchists of Chicago with 
prison, exile, or death. 

3. The Spanish Inquisition was mainly a state institution. 
It was founded by Ferdinand and Isabella after the deliver- 
ance of Spain from the Mohammedan yoke, in order to pro- 
tect their kingdom against Moors and Jews, who had remained 
in the country and, pretending to be converts, conspired se- 
cretly with the African Moors for the overthrow of Christian 
Spain. 

Note. — The Church is God's kingdom on earth, with a 
divinely instituted hierarchy, constitution, and laws. Hence 
she loves order, and this also in the State, be it republican 
or monarchical. Where, as in our country, Church and State 
are separate, she is always on the side of the constitution, 
law, and order, and teaches her children to cherish and up- 
hold them. 

Worldly power and success, commercial prosperity, devel- 
opment of science and art, rank infinitely below the spiritual 
blessings of divine faith and its graces for the salvation of 
immortal souls and their eternal happiness. To bring the 
latter to the nations, is the great mission of the Church of 
Christ Crucified. If temporal blessings have come so richly 
to the nations through their union with the Church, they 
came as Christ has said : "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, 
and all these things shall be added unto you." 

Peace and co-operation between the spiritual and the sec- 
ular power have always been recognized by the Church as 
willed and ordained by God from whom both are derived. 
In the famous Syllabus of the year 1864 (N. 55) the Holy See 
pronounced censure on the contrary opinion. Although in 
some countries complete separation of Church and State may 
appear to be a lesser evil on account of difference in religion, 
the Church looks upon it as a state of affairs not applicable 
as a general norm. 



Chapter X. 

Benefits which the Church bestowed upon the 
World during the Middle Ages. 

110. Q. What di(J the Church do for the nations in the 
Middle Ages ? 

R. She bestowed innumerable blessings upon 
trie nations, which had been pagan and savage, 
and became civilized and Christian through her 
labors. 

111. Q. Name some of these blessings. 

R. Under her influence wise laws and constitu- 
tions were framed for the welfare of the people. 
(Magna Charta in England). She abolished sla- 
very, founded hospices for travelers, hospitals for 
the sick, orphanages and foundling asylums ; she 
established and endowed schools, colleges, and 
universities in all Christian countries ; she fostered 
art and science. Architecture flourished in the 
Roman and Gothic styles. In her convents count- 
less books were written or copied ; painting, sculpt- 
ure, and music were developed. 

112. Q. Which were the greatest of these blessings be- 
stowed by the Church? 

R. The greatest of the manifold blessings, be- 
stowed by the Church upon the people of the middle 
ages, were : 

I. A strong and fervent faith, which pervaded 
and consecrated private and public life. 

(54) 



55 

Nations, cities and princes vied with each other in 
building beautiful churches, convents and institutions for 
every kind of charity and christian education. Religious 
vocations were plentiful. Family life was guarded and sanc- 
tified by the sacramental and indissoluble bond of matrimony. 
War and peace, arts and sciences, trades, professions and the 
business world, were placed under the elevating protection of 
religion and its saints. 

Shrines of Our Saviour, the Bl. Virgin and the Saints were 
conspicuous by the road sides and in the public places of 
towns and cities. 

Countless pilgrims visited the sacred shrines of Palestine, 
Rome, Compostella and other places. This holy faith em- 
braced all civilized nations and united them into one family 
under their spiritual father, the pope. 

2. The gift of holiness, by which a wonderful 
array of men and women in the higher as well as 
the lower walks of life became canonized saints. 

Great popes like St. Nicholas I. and St. Gregory VII., 
bishops like St. Malachy of Armagh, St. Anselm and St. 
Thomas of Canterbury, ruled the flock of Christ. 

The religious life produced numerous saints in the old and 
in new orders, for instance the remarkable Benedictine nuns 
St. Hildegard, St. Gertrude, and St. Matilda, who were favor- 
ed with heavenly visions and wrote books full of wisdom and 
holiness. Many saints in the lower and higher ranks of the 
laity. St. Isidore, a laborer, whom angels replaced at the plow, 
while he prayed. St. Zita, a servant, whose saying was : "The 
hand at work and the heart with God." St. Notburga, whose 
sickle was kept suspended in midair during her devotions. 

The thrones of Christendom were rich in saints. During 
the life of Otto I. three canonized empresses graced the throne 
of Germany, St. Matilda, St. Edith, St. Adelaide. Emperor 
Henry II. and his wife Cunigundis led a life of virginal 
chastity, devoted to works of piety and charity, and built 900 
churches and convents ; St. Edward of England, who carried 
a poor cripple to church and miraculously cured him ; St. 
Louis of France, the crusader, to whom, when a child, his 
holy mother Blanca said : "I would rather see thee dead on 
my lap, than ever know thee guilty of a mortal sin;" St. 
Casimir of Poland, who in a fatal sickness preferred death 
to the least infringement of his angelic chastity ; St. Elisabeth 
of Thuringia, whose boundless charity was glorified by the 
miracle of the roses ; St. Malcom and St. Margaret of Scot- 
5 



56 

land; St. Ferdinand of Spain, St. Alfonso and St. Elisabeth 
of Portugal, St. Hedwig of Poland and many other royal saints, 
burning with the love of God and his poor, and models of 
humility and mortification amid the splendors of their courts, 
as the emblem of their dignity expressed : The crown sur- 
mounted by the cross. 

113. Q. What great religious orders were founded dur- 
ing this epoch? 

R. The two great orders of the Franciscans and 
Dominicans were founded in the beginning of the 
thirteenth century, and became beacons of holiness 
and learning to the world. 

St. Francis of Assisium, the saint of seraphic 
love, founded the Franciscan order, which gave to 
a worldly age the great example of evangelical 
poverty and missionary zeal. He received from 
Our Lord the stigmata, or five sacred wounds. One 
of his greatest disciples was St. Anthony of Padua, 
the wonderworker. His spiritual daughter, St. 
Clare, founded the order of Poor Clares. 

St. Dominic founded the Dominican order, which 
gave to the Church great missionaries and theolo- 
gians. He devoted himself to the conversion of 
the Albigenses and introduced the rosary. 

St. Robert founded the Cistercian order, of which 
St. Bernard, the great servant of Mary, became the 
shining light. 

St. Bruno of Cologne founded the Carthusian 
order, famous for its practice of lifelong penance 
and silence. The daily greeting of the monks is : 
1 'memento mori" ("Remember death"). 

St. Norbert, one of the most holy and eloquent 
men of his time, founded the Premonstratensians. 

Berthold, the crusader, built a convent on Mt. 



57 

Carmel in Palestine, and founded the order of the 
Carmelites, which spread the devotion of the Scap- 
ular of the Blessed Virgin over the whole world. 

St. John de Matha founded the order of Trinita- 
rians, which . delivered innumerable Christians 
from Mohammedan slavery. 

114. Q. What monuments are left to testify to the work 
of the Church duriug the Middle Ages? 

R. Great cities, magnificent cathedrals, con- 
vents, universities, countless works of art, and 
especially immense libraries, have been left as 
imposing monuments of the work of God's Church 
duriug the Middle Ages. 

About the year 1500, Europe had 66 universities, which held 
their charter from the popes. Although in different nations, 
they had one common language, Latin, so that learning be- 
came international. The number of students was larger than 
in our modern universities, for instance Paris had 20.000 (A. 
D. 1538), Prague 36,000 (A. D. 1403), Oxford 30,000 (A. D. 1340.; 

115. Q. What illustrious and holy doctors flourished in 
this age ? 

R. During this age flourished the great doctors 
of the Church, St. Anselm, St. Thomas Aquinas, 
St. Bonaventure, and many other great teachers of 
sacred learning. 

Theology in the middle ages was distinguished according 
to the method of study as : 1) Scholastic theology, which fol- 
lowed a strictly scientific method in arranging, developing 
and arguing catholic truth. St. Anselm is considered its 
founder, and Bl. Albert, the Great, St. Thomas Aquinas, 
called Angel of the Schools, and St. Bonaventure, called the 
Seraphic doctor, are honored as its greatest lights. 2) Mystic 
theology, which followed the method of contemplation. St. 
Bernard, its chief representative, laid down the axiom : "God 
is so far known as He is loved." Bl. Thomas & Kempis, 
author of the "Imitation of Christ" belonged to this school. 



58 

116. Q. What great discoveries mark the close of the 
Middle Ages? 

R. i. The invention of the art of printing by 
Johann Guttenberg (1450) at Strasbnrg, Germany. 
The first book printed was a Latin Bible. 

At the end of the middle ages there existed translations of 
the Bible in almost every language of the Christian world ; 
30 in German, 20 in Italian, 26 in French, 19 in Flemish, 2 in 
Spanish, 6 in Bohemian, 1 in Swedish, and a far larger num- 
ber of partial translations or of such selections from the Bible 
as were best fitted for the edification of the people. 

2. The invention of the mariner's compass by 
Flavio Gioja in Italy about the same time. 

3. The invention of gunpowder by a German 
monk, Berthold Schwarz, at Freiburg, about 1370. 

4. The discovery of the New World by Chris- 
topher Columbus in 1492, which opened new and 
immense fields of labor for apostolic men. 

Columbus as well as the Franciscan fathers who befriended 
him, and Queen Isabella, his generous patroness, were ani- 
mated by a holy zeal for saving souls and spreading the 
kingdom of God in these newly discovered lands. 

5. The Renaissance or revival of the ancient 
literature and arts of Grece and Rome, which, 
especially after the fall of Constantinople spread 
over Europe, and was fostered mainly by the Popes. 

Michael Angelo, Raphael, Fra Angelico, Leonardo da Vinci. 
Titian, Guido Reni : painters; Dante, Petrarch : poets. They 
have been the acknowledged masters and models in art and 
literature ever since. 

6. The revival of the study of ancient Roman 
law, which developed the science of law ; though 
some of its principles were often abused by princes 
in the interest of absolute power. 

Roman Law, or the law of ancient pagan Rome, was 
remarkable for clearness and system. After Constantine's 



59 

conversion, its harshness was in 'many respects softened 
through the influence of the Church. 

The law of the newly converted barbarian nations rested 
on custom and was according to their state very primitive. 
But as their advancing civilization outgrew its simplicity, the 
Church supplied the want from her own canon law. The 
influence of its mild spirit proved so great a blessing, that 
princes and people often preferred the ecclesiastical to the 
civil lawcourts. 

With the rapid progress of the middle ages in commerce 
by land and sea, in trade and arts, in the founding and 
growth of cities, the use of the elaborate and practical Roman 
law became in many respects desirable. But its study was 
only in so far favored by the Church, as its pagan character 
was changed according to Christian principles. The abuse 
of Roman Law, as well as of ancient literature, consisted in 
the adoption of their pagan ideas. 

117. Q. What does this show? 

R. This shows that the Catholic Church had 
educated the once barbarian nations to a high de- 
gree, and that to her belongs the merit of the great 
discoveries, which changed the world and intro- 
duced the modern age. 

NCKTE. — The nations of Europe had been converted and 
civilized, the soil was under cultivation, commerce and traffic 
expanded over land and sea, art and science flourished, 
higher and elementary education were provided for by nu- 
merous universities, colleges, and schools, institutions of 
charity covered the land, the trades were protected by guilds, 
and all men and nations were united by the one great bond 
of Catholic faith and charity. This was the work of the 
Holy Catholic Church. 



Chapter XI. 

Trials of the Church during the decline of the 
Hiddle Ages. 

118. Q. What trials befell the Church during the last 
centuries of the Middle Ages % 

R. i. The removal of the papal residence from 
Rome to Avignon, France, (A. D. 1305), which 
lasted seventy years and was called the Babylonian 
captivity of the Church. 

2. The Great Schism of the West and errors 
about the rights of the Holy See, arising from it. 

3. The heresies of Wycliffe and Huss. 

4. Disorders, affecting faith and morals, which 
resulted from a misguided study of pagan literature 
and law during the renaissance. 

119. Q. How did the removal of the Holy See to Avignon 
take place I 

R. Pope Clement V., formerly archbishop of 
Bordeaux, remained after his coronation in France, 
(A. D. 1305) and took up his residence at Avig- 
non, partly oft account of the civil w T ar which dis- 
tracted Rome and Italy, and partly to settle peace- 
ably unjust demands, made by the French King, 
Philip the Fair, against the Holy See. . 

120. Q. Why was this stay of the Holy See at Avignon 
compared to the Babylonian captivity of the Jews * 

R. Because it lasted 70 years and was deplored 
by the Christian world as an exile of the Holy See 

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61 

from Rome, which had been the hallowed capital 
and centre of Christendom since the days of St. 
Peter. 

During the dispute between Pope John XXII., at Avignon, 
and the German Emperor, Louis of Bavaria, who stubbornly- 
trespassed on the rights of the Church, this feeling grew the 
more pronounced as the nations of Europe became jealous of 
the influence which France tried to force upon the Holy See 
for political purposes. 

121. Q. How did the exile end? 

R. Pope Gregory XI., returned to Rome, yield- 
ing to the prayers of the Romans, the desire of the 
Christian world and especially to the pleading of 
Catherine of Siena, the great saint of that age. 

The Popes who resided at Avignon were learned and 
saintly men. Clement V. and John XXII. completed the great 
lawbook of the Church (Code of canon law). Bl. Urban V. 
died, stretched on the bare floor, strewn with ashes, and hold- 
ing the crucifix in his hands, while the doors of the palace 
were thrown open in compliance with his command to let the 
people see "how a pope dies." 

122. Q. What sad event followed the exile of Avignon? 

R. The Schism of the West which lasted thirty 
six years. 

123. Q. How did this Schism originate? 

R. After Pope Urban VI. had been elected and 
crowned at Rome (A. D. 1378), many of the car- 
dinals, dissatisfied with his rnle and claiming that 
the election had been unlawful, seceded and elected 
another who called himself Clement VII. and went 
to reside in Avignon. He was French and received 
recognition from France and some other western 
countries, whilst the larger portion of Christendom 
obeyed the legitimate pope : thus the Schism of 
the West originated. 



62 

During the election the Romans had clamored loudly for 
an Italian pope, because they feared that one of French 
nationality would not stay in Rome, but reside at Avignon. 
This disturbance was afterwards alleged by the seceding 
cardinals as an excuse for their action. After the schism 
had lasted 30 years, several cardinals, proposing to end it, 
convened a synod at Pisa, where they declared the successors 
of Pope Urban and of Clement deposed, and made another 
election, so that beside the legitimate pope, Gregory XII., 
two others claimed recognition from the Christian world. 

124. Q. What was the result of this Sciiisml 

R. This Schism brought great disorders and 
abuses into Christendom ; it lowered the respect 
for papal authority, led princes to meddle in 
Church affairs and caused the erroneous opinion, 
that general councils have authority over the pope. 

This error was forever condemned by the Vatican council 
which upheld the supremacy of the Holy See, as it was given 
by Christ to St. Peter, exercised by his successors, and recog- 
nized in every century of the Christian era. 

125. Q. How was the Schism of the West settled 2 

R. The Schism was settled at the Council of 
Constance (A. D. 1414 — 1418). Pope Gregory 
XII., a most humble and holy pontiff, freely re- 
signed in order to restore peace to the Church. 
The claims of his two opponents were set aside by 
the council and Pope Martin V. was duly elected. 

126. (}. What heresies grew out of the troubles of this 
time ? 

R. The heresies of Wycliffe and Huss which 
were condemned by the Council of Constance. 

Wycliffe lived at Oxford, England; Huss, who was a pro- 
fessor at Prague, adopted his errors. 

127. Q. What did Wycliffe and Huss teach? 

R. 1. They taught that every Christian has a 
right to explain the Bible for himself and that the 



63 

Church, is invisible, existing only in the hearts of 
the predestined. 

2. They rejected the divine institution of the 
hierarchy and proclaimed the revolutionary doc- 
trine, that the wrong done by temporal and spiritual 
rulers deprives them of the right to govern and to 
own property, and entitles their subjects to judge 
them and to rebel. 

These doctrines were later adopted by Luther and other 
heretics. Their dangerous character was illustrated by the 
Lollard mobs in England and the destructive Hussite wars in 
Bohemia, which were caused by them. They openly pro- 
claimed the socalled principle of revolution, which since then 
has continually disturbed church, state and society. 

128. Q. What disorders followed the abuse of ancient 
pagan literature 2 

R. Many pagan ideas, undermining Christian 
faith and morals, spread among the educated classes 
and caused proud contempt for ecclesiastical author- 
ity and scholastic learning, and bitter envy against 
the religious orders, who taught in the universities 
of Christendom. 

The scholars of ancient pagan literature were called Hu- 
manists. While many of them were excellent Christians like 
Thomas More of England, others like Ulrich von Hutten, 
Luther's friend, were irreligious and immoral men. 

129. Q. What false doctrines were taken by princes 
from the law of ancient pagan Rome 1 

R. Two false doctrines were taken by princes 

from ancient Roman law and became fatal to the 

liberty of the Church and the people ; 

i. that the will of the ruler is supreme law, 

2. that the ruler is supreme in temporal and 

spiritual things. 

130. Q. What was the tendency of the sad events of this 
epoch 2 

R. These sad events tended on the one hand to 



64 

dispose worldly and evil minded men for trie apos- 
tasy of the sixteenth century ; but on the others to 
purify and chasten the true children of the Church ; 

131. (J. How did the Church pass through these trials? 

R. Divine Providence guided the Church 
through these trials, so that 

i. The papacy, even in its sorest distress, re- 
mained firm in defending the faith against heresy, 
schism and schismatic councils. 

2. Numerous saints edified Christendom by the 
fragrance of heroic virtue and perfection. 

St.JohnNepomucene, a martyr for the seal of confession ; 
St. Francis of Paola, remarkable for his ascetic life and 
founder of the Hermits of St. Francis ; St. Bernardine, who 
after a youth of angelic chastity entered the Franciscan 
order and converted innumerable sinners by his apostolic 
preaching; St. John Capistran, his disciple, who preached a 
crusade against the Turks and led the Christian army to a 
glorious victory over a tenfold stronger enemy ; St. Nicholas 
of the Flue, a hermit in Switzerland, who for twenty years 
took no sustenance except holy communion; St. Catherine 
of Siena, conspicuous by most exalted holiness and heavenly 
wisdom, so that her advice was sought by popes, princes and 
people; St. Frances of Rome who was honored by the visible 
presence of her guardian angel and many other saints in all 
walks of life. 

NOTE. — This epoch shows, that the Church is always sure 
of the promised protection of her divine Founder and the 
guidance of the Holy Ghost, not only in times of violent per- 
secution or against the attacks of heresy, but also in the far 
greater peril of internal dissensions which during that time 
struck at the very rock on which Christ built his Church, the 
Papacy. Even saints like St. Vincent Ferrer were for a time 
in doubt about the legitimate pope, nations were divided, 
universities and learned men disputed, but the cloud vanish- 
ed, the Church emerged from her trials, and the papacv, 
even in its apparent humiliation, stood clearly forth as the 
unyielding rock of faith against the false principles and 
heresies of the age. 



Chapter XII. 

The so-called Reformation, or the Origin of 
Protestantism. 

132. Q. Can the Cknrch of God be reformed? 

R. No ; a divine institution like the Church, 
cannot be reformed by men. The work of man 
and the morals of man can be reformed, but not 
the work of God. 

133. Q. What do we call the teachings of men, who 
undertake to change the doctrines of God's holy Church ! 

R. We call such teachings "heresy. "(For in- 
stance, the heresy of Arianism, or Nestorianism. ) 

134. Q. Which heresies have become most notable after 
the Middle Ages % 

R. The heresy of Martin Luther in Germany, 
of Zwingli in Switzerland, of Calvin in Geneva, 
and that of the Anabaptists. 

135. Q. Who was Martin Luther? 

R. Luther was born at Eisleben, Saxony, of 
Catholic parents (1483). Frightened by the sud- 
den death of his friend, he became an Augustinian 
monk without sufficiently probing his vocation. 
His nature was passionate and soon led him into 
religious errors. When in 151 7 the Dominican 
monk, John Tetzel, preached at Wittenberg the 
Jubilee indulgence, granted by Pope Leo X., 
Luther challenged him to a debate. Soon his 
heretical views betrayed themselves, and when he 

(65) 



66 

refused to submit to the authority of the Church, 
he was excommunicated. Then he publicly de- 
clared his apostasy, broke his vows, and married 
an eloped nun. 

136. (J. What were the false doctrines of Luther 2 
R. Luther taught : 

i. That in consequence of original sin, man has 
no free will, and is in his nature totally depraved ; 

2. that therefore all his works are sinful ; 

3. that faith alone, i. e. the belief that Christ 
saved us, covers all sins and gives eternal salva- 
tion ; that good works therefore are useless ; 

4. that private interpretation of the Bible is the 
sole rule of faith. 

137. Q. What principal Catholic doctrines did Lather 
reject? 

R. Luther rejected the authority of the pope 
and bishops, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the 
sacraments of Penance and Confirmation, Extreme 
Unction, Holy Orders, and Matrimony; fasting, 
prayers for the dead, invocation of the saints, the 
evangelical counsels, the hierarchy, and many 
other doctrines. 

Luther admitted the Real Presence in the Bl. Sacrament, 
but only in the moment of communion and together with the 
substance of the bread. Calvin and Zwingli completely denied 
the Real Presence, but differed on another point. Calvin 
taught that certain grace is obtained by the communicant's 
faith, whereas Zwingli called communion a mere figure or 
ceremony in memory of Christ. This difference of opinions 
about the Bl. Sacrament gave rise to a bitter, abusive and 
noisy quarrel between these socalled reformers. 

138. Q. How did Luther support his false doctrine? 

R. Rejecting the teaching authority of the 
Church and divine Tradition, he claimed that the 



67 

Bible alone contains God's word and that his in- 
terpretation of it was true and infallible. 

When the papal bull, containing Luther's excommunica- 
tion, arrived, the rebellious and proud monk cast it publicly 
into the fire before the gate of Wittenberg with the blasphem- 
ous words : "Because thou hast offended the holy one of the 
Lord (meaning himself), may eternal fire consume thee." 

189. Q. What does the Bible say to such a principle ? 

R. We read in the Bible that Christ says : "He 
that does not hear the Church let him be to thee as 
a heathen and a publican;" and St. Paul says: 
"The Church is the pillar and ground of all truth.' ' 
Hence to discard the teaching authority of God's 
Church, and to place private interpretation in its 
stead, is heresy. 

Luther was a man of proud and overbearing character, 
brooking no opposition. Passionate of temper, he spent his 
life in fierce hatred and strife against the Church of his bap- 
tism, and against its venerable pontiff, whom he called Anti- 
christ. His nature was sensual, his language was that of a 
demagogue, abusive and often vile. 

For instance. After an angry dispute about the Real Pres- 
ence at a saloon in Jena he left his opponent Carlstadt with 
the words: "I wish that I could see thee on the rack." In 
his violent pamphlet against the Jews he called them "young 
devils condemned to hell." 

Against the poor peasants, who had been incited to open 
revolt by his incendiary writings about evangelical liberty, 
he wrote : "The governments must strike, hang, burn, behead 
and torture this rabble, so that the people may be filled with 
fear and kept in order." 

In his fierce attack on the papacy, he wrote : "Why do we 
not attack with all weapons these teachers of perdition, car- 
dinals, popes . .. and wash our hands with their blood." 

The language of his printed "tabletalk" is too foul for 
reproduction. And such a man posed as a reformer of the 
Church, whose children were seraphic St. Francis of Assisium, 
angelic St. Bernard, gentle St. Elisabeth of Thuringia and 
ecstaticSt. Catherine of Siena. 



140. (J. Who was Zwingli, and what was his teaching? 

R. Zwingli was a priest in Switzerland, de- 
posed by his bishop for immorality. He denied 
the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacra- 
ment, and other Catholic doctrines, and adopted 
many of the errors of Luther. 

By his fanatical preaching he provoked violent mobs, 
destruction of sacred images and desecration of churches. 
This finally led to a civil war between the apostatized and the 
catholic cantons of Switzerland. The fierce reformer fell in 
the battle of Kappel (A. D. 1531.) 

141. Q. Who was John Calvin, and what did he teach ? 

R. John Calvin was a student at the university 
of Paris and became tainted with Luther's heresy. 
He taught salvation by faith alone, total deprava- 
tion of human nature through original sin, and 
absolute predestination, i. e. that God had pre- 
destined a certain part of mankind for heaven and 
the other for hell. John Knox, founder of Presby- 
teranism in Scotland, was his disciple. 

Calvin established himself in Geneva, Switzerland, which 
became the stronghold of Calvinism, and was ruled by him 
with tyrannical power and intolerance. While claiming 
private interpretation of the Bible for himself, he ordered 
Servetus to be burnt at the stake for denying the Bl. Trinity. 

142. Q. What did the Anabaptists teach? 

R. The Anabaptists taught that the baptism of 
infants is invalid and therefore they rebaptized 
every one. They announced another kingdom of 
Christ on earth, in which neither government, nor 
laws, nor property should exist. 

In Miinster, northern Germany, they established by open 
revolt an anabaptist kingdom of communistic character and 
chose John of Leyden, a Dutch tailor, for their prophet and 
king. He took 17 wives and ruled in a cruel and eccentric 
manner, defending his crimes by quoting bible texts. Final- 
ly, the government restored order and the king and his 
councellors were punished according to law. 



69 

143. Q. Who was Henry VIII., and how did he aposta- 
tize? 

R. Henry VIII. was king of England. He de- 
manded a divorce from his lawful wife, Catherine 
of Arragon, in order to marry Anne Boleyn, a young 
lady of his court. When Pope Clement refused, he 
fell away, contracted this criminal and invalid 
marriage, and forced all England into apostasy. 
He had in quick succession six wives, of whom he 
beheaded two. The Schism of Henry finally de- 
veloped into the Anglican or Episcopalian sect. 

Henry declared himself head of the English church and 
demanded an oath recognizing his spiritual supremacy. Car- 
dinal Fisher, Sir Thomas More and 72,000 Catholics who 
refused, were cruelly put to death. Monasteries were plun- 
dered, all church lands confiscated and the religious orders 
blotted out. Under Edward, Henry's son, and Elisabeth, 
Anne Boleyn's daughter, the persecution grew still fiercer. 
Priests were hunted like wolves, hanged and quartered ; lay- 
men, who refused to assist at Protestant services, were fined 
and imprisoned. Under King James I., Cromwell and William 
of Orange severer measures followed. The test oath excluded 
all Catholics from office. A Catholic child that turned Pro- 
testant, would inherit the whole estate to the exclusion of its 
Catholic brothers and sisters and even during the lifetime 
of its parents. 

144. Q. What were the main causes that led princes and 
peoples to follow these heresies % 

R. i. The doctrine of salvation by faith alone 
without good works was easy and pleasing to sen- 
sual man ; so also divorce and the abolition of the 
religious vows, while the doctrine of total depravity 
furnished a convenient excuse for yielding to pas- 
sion. 

Luther and his friend Melanchton, afraid of losing the 
support of Philip of Hessia, gave him permission to have 
two wives at the same time. 



70 

2. Princes, city governments, and the nobility 
found through, it an opportune pretext for robbing 
the Church of her possessions, lands, convents, 
universities, and schools. 

In Germany and England, the property thus 
stolen amounted to about one-fifth of the entire 
territory. 

*' 3. The governments forced the people into their 
apostasy by establishing the principle, that the 
prince who rules the territory also rules the religion, 
and holds supreme power in spiritual as well as in 
temporal things (according to pagan Roman law). 

When King James I. ascended the throne of England and 
was informed of his supreme power in spiritual and temporal 
affairs, he exclaimed: "Do I make the judges? Do I make 
the bishops ? Then, forsooth, I make what likes me, law and 
gospel." And he did so. Thus Protestantism introduced the 
system of state churches with princes as their rulers. Instead 
of the great commonwealth of christian nations under one 
spiritual head, the pope, according to the word of Christ: 
"One shepherd and one fold", there were now, (so a Protes- 
tant writer confessed) as many churches as there were states 
and as many little popes as there were Protestant princes. 

4. The shameful misrepresentations of Catholic 
truth, and vile slanders, continually uttered against 
Popes, bishops, priests and religious orders by 
pulpit and press, led the people astray, and filled 
them with bitter prejudices against the old Mother 
Church. 

Veneration of sacred images and relics, invocation of 
saints and of the Bl. Virgin, adoration of Our Lord in the Bl. 
Sacrament were blasphemously denounced as idolatry; good 
works, even if performed in the service of charity, as proud 
self-justification, and the three evangelical counsels, as injur- 
ious to the merits of Christ. The sacrament of penance, 
indulgences and prayers for the souls in purgatory were made 
the butt of vilest abuse. Verily the gates of hell seemed to 
have opened to vomit forth foul slander and fierce hatred 
against the Spouse of Christ. 



71 

145. (J. How was Sweden torn away from the Church? 

R. Gustav Wasa, wlio had freed his country 
from the power of Denmark, became King of 
Sweden in the year 1523, and, seeing that by 
seizing Church property and abolishing the hierar- 
chy, he would obtain absolute power, he introduced 
Ivtitheranism by force and deceit, and thus destroyed 
what the great St. Ansgar had founded. 

For fifty years the Swedish people were deceived into the 
belief that they still belonged to the Catholic church ; the 
preachers feigned saying mass with the ancient vestments, and 
the semblance of the ancient liturgy and the hierarchy was re- 
tained. Finally Catholics were excluded from office and their 
worship was forbidden by law. When Queen Christine daugh- 
ter of Gustav Adolf, returned to the Church, she was forced 
to resign and died in Rome. KingSigismund of Poland, heir 
to the Swedish crown, was asked to become a Lutheran or yield 
his claim ; but he answered : "I do not esteem worldly power 
so high as to barter heaven for it," and left the kingdom. 

146. Q. How was Denmark separated from the Church? 

R. Christian II. and Frederic I. introduced 
Protestantism into Denmark, Norway, and Iceland 
against the will- of the people. Bishops were be- 
headed or imprisoned, and all Church property 
was confiscated. 

147. Q. How did Holland fall away? 

R. William of Orange led the people into re- 
bellion against their King Philip II. of Spain, and 
became the head of the Dutch republic in 1578. 
The Catholic religion was forbidden and Calvinism 
adopted as the state religion. 

The Orange government sent out an army to introduce 
Calvinism. Bishops were imprisoned or banished, the clergy 
of Amsterdam were put on a ship and sent out to sea, whence 
they never returned. 19 priests, mostly Franciscans were 
tortured and hanged at Gorcum, as martyrs of the Bl. Sacra- 
ment. Sacred images were burnt, churches desecrated and 
6 



72 

turned over to the Calvinists. Nevertheless Belgium and 
several provinces of Holland remained true to the faith. 

148. Q. What happened in France ? 

R. The heresy of Calvin seduced many who 
were called Huguenots. They conspired against 
the king in order to bring one of their party upon 
the throne, and waged bloody wars against their 
lawful sovereign. 

149. Q. Give some account of St. Bartholomew's night. 

R. In the year 1572 King Charles of France 
was informed that the Huguenots had conspired 
against his life. He then commanded that during 
the night (St. Bartholomew's) his soldiers should 
fall upon the Huguenots and kill them. 

150. Q. Did the Church eyer approve of snch a cruel act ? 

R. No, she always has condemned any such 
acts, which are contrary to law, order, and Chris- 
tian charity. 

The Huguenots had wantonly provoked the anger of the 
Catholic people. In southern France they tortured and killed 
priests, monks and sisters, desecrated altars and the Bl. Sac- 
rament, burnt churches, convents, sacred images and relics. 
In Orthey, 3000 Catholic men and women were massacred, 
and atNimes hundreds of captured Catholics were killed with 
daggers in one night. This does neither justify nor even 
excuse Bartholomew night, but it set the example. 

151. QC What happened in Prussia? 

R. Prussia was a land, taken from the heathens 
and civilized by German knights in the name of 
the Church. But in the year 1522 Albrecht of 
Brandenburg, who was then superior of the order, 
became a Lutheran, broke his vows and married. 
He then made himself prince of the country and 
introduced Lutheranism. 



73 

152. Q. What happened in Scotland? 

R. John Knox preached Calvinism and open 
rebellion against the lawful government to the 
Scotch people. He advised the nobility to join 
him and take the property of the Church. They 
followed his sordid advice and rebelled against 
their Catholic Queen, Mary Stuart. She fled to 
England, where she was beheaded at the command 
of her treacherous cousin, Queen Elizabeth of 
England, because Mary was the legitimate heir to 
the English throne, and would not renounce her 
faith. 

Pope Benedict XIV. did not hesitate to say that Mary Stu- 
art died a martyr. Firmly professing her faith and holding 
the crucifix in her hand she went to her doom, a noble ex- 
ample of Christian fortitude and profound piety. 

153. Q. What happened in Ireland? 

R. Ireland refused to accept Protestantism from 
England. Cromwell came with an English army 
and devastated Ireland with fire and sword. About 
ten million acres of land were confiscated and 
twenty-nine thousand people sold as slaves to 
America. The remaining Catholics were driven 
into the poverty-stricken province of Connaught 
with the words: u To hell or to Connaught. " 
Priests were hunted like wolves, and a price of 
five pounds was paid for every head. 

Up to 1800, England treated Ireland in a most 
tyrannical manner and declared through the court : 
"For Catholics there is no law" (that is in the 
land). Notwithstanding all this, Ireland has 
always remained faithful to the Church, and finally, 
in 1829, forced England through her great son 
Daniel O'Connell, to grant religious liberty. 



74 

154. Q. What followed the establishment of Protes- 
tantism 1 

R. Bloody wars and revolutions. In Germany 
the 30 years' war between Protestants and Catholics 
was waged, so that Germany became a desert and 
its former population of seventeen millions was 
reduced- to four millions. In France the Huguenot 
wars laid waste the land. In England, Mary, 
Queen of Scots, and King Charles I. were beheaded, 
and bloody wars followed each other in quick suc- 
cession. War was waged in the Netherlands and 
in Switzerland. Cities, convents and churches 
were destroyed in countless numbers, priests and 
nuns were massacred, and libraries and the finest 
works of art perished. 

The fanatic hatred against sacred images resulted not only 
in a widespread destruction of great art treasures, but in 
bringing the arts of architecture, painting, sculpture and 
carving to a long standstill in many lands. 

The socalled reformers had styled reason the handmaid of 
the devil, decried all philosophical studies and confined 
theological study to the Bible; so that a great decline of 
universities, elementary schools and the book trade followed. 

Luther wrote: "The higher schools ought to be ground to 
dust, for nothing more hellish has come into the world." 
(Luth. W. 7. 63.) To the mayors and city councils he wrote : 
"Under the papacy conveut9 and schools were so numerous, 
that not a boy could escape without God's miracle; now they 
are going down everywhere." 

Finally: "If we had it not from our forefathers' mild alms 
and endowments the gospel (his) would have been wiped out 
long ago and not a poor preacher could live. But we take 
and rob by force, what others (Catholic forefathers) have 
given and endowed." (L. W. 14. pg. 389.) 

155. (J. TVhat does this show? 

R. It shows that these new religions were not 
of God ; for Christ has said : "Thereby the world 
shall know that you are my disciples, if you love 
one another." 



75 

156. Q. What was the practical result of the chief prin- 
ciple of Protestantism, private judgment? 

R. The principle of private judgment, accord- 
ing to which every one may frame his religion 
from his own understanding of the Bible, resulted 
in the rise of numerous sects. 

157. Q. Did these sects remain unchanged? 

R. These sects have continually changed, and 
were split and subdivided into other sects, so that 
at the present time Protestantism is a Babel of con- 
flicting sects. There are about 150 sects in the 
United States. 

158. Q. Which are the more prominent among the later 
sects 2 

R. The Methodists, founded by John Wesley, 
an Episcopalian preacher, at Oxford, England, 

The Baptists, founded by Roger Williams, at 
Providence, Rhode Island, 1639. 

The Congregationalists, founded by Robert 
Browne in England about 1600. 

The Quakers, founded by George Fox in Eng- 
land 1647. 

One of the latest sects is the Salvation Army, 
founded by General Booth of London, England. 

NOTE. — That the principle of private judgment resulted in 
the rise of so many different and conflicting sects, proves 
that it is false. 

Protestantism has destroyed the great Christian common- 
wealth of nations, established during the Middle Ages, It 
has driven the wedge of religious dissension between nations, 
heretofore united by the bond of the same faith, between 
rulers and subjects, even between the inhabitants of the same 
country. 



76 

Having rejected the ancient hierarchy, it transferred the 
ecclesiastical power to the princes and made them almost 
absolute rulers, supreme in temporal and spiritual things. 

The sweeping confiscation of church property, theretofore 
devoted to charity and to higher and elementary education, 
retarded for a long time educational and social progress, as 
Luther and his friend Melanchton confessed. The bloody 
wars and revolutions, which followed in its wake, interrupted 
the development of science and art. 

The large number of contending sects, which have sprung 
aud still spring from the Protestant doctrine of private judg- 
ment, has given to the Christian world so sad an aspect of dis- 
cord and contradiction, that not only the minds of many in 
Christian lands are unbalanced by doubt and uncertainty, but 
also the conversion of heathen nations has been rendered ex- 
tremely difficult. To the present day this religious separation 
and antagonism runs like a deep chasm between the citizens 
of the same country and sorely affects the equality of legisla- 
tion, individual rights, and national unity. 



Chapter XIII. 
Council of Trent 1545 — 1563 and its Results. 

159. Q. What did the Church do to counteract the spread 
of Protestantism 2 

R. Pope Paul III. convened a general council 

at Trent, in Tyrol, in order to condemn these false 

doctrines and to establish practicable rules for the 

promotion of faith and morals. 

160. Q. Did the council haye good results? 

R. Yes, the Council of Trent was so blessed in 
its work that since then a new life of sanctity, 
learning, and zeal has pervaded the Church. Great 
Popes and bishops like St. Pius V. and St. Charles 
Borromeo arose, and many new religious orders 
were established to promote Christian education 
and charity. 

161. Q. Name some of these newly established orders, 
R. 1. The Society of Jesus, which was founded 

in the year 1540 by St. Ignatius, formerly a Spanish 
knight. It gave to the Church a large number of 
men, illustrious for their sanctity and profound 
learning. It stemmed the flood of Protestant 
heresy in Europe, founded an admirable system of 
higher education, and sent out numerous mission- 
aries to pagan countries. 

^ The three greatest theologians of this age Bellarmin, Peta- 
vius and Suarez belonged to the Society of Jesus ; so also St. 
Peter Canisins, the apostle of Germany, who saved the southern 
and western countries of the empire from Protestantism. 

2. The order of Capuchins (A. D. 1528), which 
had for its aim the practice of severe penance and 
poverty and missionary labors for the salvation of 
souls. 

(77) 



:s 

3. The congregation of the Oratorians, which 
was founded by St. Philip Xeri, the apostle of 
Rome. 

4. The congregation of St. Maurus, a branch of 
the Benedictine Order, which devoted itself to 
ecclesiastical studies, and produced great authors, 
like Mabillon, Montfaucon, Ruinart, and others. 

5. The Order of the Discalced (bare- footed) 
Carmelites, established by the two seraphic saints 
of Spain, St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross. 

6. The congregation of the Passionists, founded 
by St. Paul of the Cross, devoted to the practice of 
penance, and to missionary work. 

7. The congregation of the Lazarists, or Priests 
of the Mission, and that of the Sisters of Charity. 
Both were founded by St. Vincent de Paul, the 
immortal hero of charity, who exhausted his life 
in continual works of spiritual and corporal mercy. 

S . The congregation of the Redemptorists, which 
was founded by St. Alphonsus Liguori, and be- 
came a great missionary order. 

9. The following religious orders were founded 
to further the cause of Christian education : The 
Christian Brothers of Christian Schools, by St. John 
Baptiste de La Salle, who renounced wealth and 
earthly honors and bound himself by a solemn vow 
to rather beg his daily bread than give up the 
Christian training of youth ; the Piarists, by St. 
Joseph Calasanctius ; the Sisters of the Visitation, 
by St. Francis de Sales, bishop of Geneva, and St. 
Frances Chantal ; the Ursnline Sisters, by St. An- 
gela de Merici ; the Sisters of Notre Dame, by St. 
Peter Fourier ; the Sisters of Providence ; the 
Sisters of St. Joseph and many others. 



79 

162. Q. What other great consolation did God gire to 
His Church during these times 1 

R. A wonderful and numerous array of Saints 

appeared during these times and consoled with the 

lustre of their holy lives the Church, the Spouse of 

Christ, who had been robbed of so many children 

and despoiled of her possessions by the apostasy in 

the sixteenth century. 

163. Q. Name some of the prominent Saints. 

R. St. Ignatius of Loyola, whose motto was : 
'•All for the greater honor and glory of God ;" 

St. Francis Borgia, formerly grandee of Spain, 
who left the world and its vanity, to enter the 
Society of Jesus ; 

St. Francis Xavier, the great wonder-worker^ 
who, brought thousands of heathens in India and 
Japan to Christ and died after a life of incessant 
apostolic labors a solitary death on the Island 
Sancian, looking toward China, which he had 
longed to convert ; 

St. Aloysius, St. Stanislaus and St. John Berch- 
mans of the Society of Jesus, youths of angelic 
chastity ; 

St. Charles Borromeo, archbishop of Milan, a 
hero of charity, who gave his large inheritance to 
the poor, lived in voluntary poverty, and, during 
the great pestilence, became the father of the 
afflicted and the dying ; 

St. Philip Neri, burning with the love of God 
and with charity for suffering mankind ; 

St. Francis de Sales, bishop of Geneva, the saint 
of meekness, who converted 72,000 Calvinists and 
wrote Philothea, a famous book on Christian per- 
fection ; 



80 

St. Vincent de Paul, the apostle of mercy, who 
sold himself into slavery for the deliverance of 
others ; 

St. Teresa, a virgin of seraphic sanctity and 
wisdom, whose writings the Church has designated 
as heavenly; the mystery of the Cross had so im- 
bued her great soul, that she prayed daily: u O 
Lord, either suffer or die ;" 

St. John of the Cross and St. Peter Alcantara, 
her countrymen and advisers ; 

St. John of God, who spent his life in works of 
heroic charity and died on his knees embracing the 
cross ; 

St. Alphonsus Liguori, the saint of the confes- 
sional. 

On our own hemisphere, many martyrs in the 
Indian missions of North America ; St. Rosa of 
Lima, in Peru ; St. Francis Solanus, called the 
apostle of Peru ; St. Louis Bertrand, who con- 
verted 150,000 Indians in New Granada ; St. Peter 
Claver, apostle of the negroes ; St. Thuribio, arch- 
bishop of Lima. 

164. Q. How did God replace the losses which the Church 
suffered through the apostasy in the sixteenth century? 

R. God raised up zealous missionaries who 
went to heathen lands and converted millions to 
the faith. 

165. Q. Name some of these missionaries. 

R. St. Francis Xavier, of the Society of Jesus, 
went to India and Japan, ^converted nations and 
kingdoms, and wrought many miracles. This 
work was successfully continued by other Jesuits, 
and the faith of the converts was so sincere and 



81 

firm, that in the persecution of Japan more than a 
million suffered martyrdom with heroic fortitude. 

In China the Jesuits Ricci, Schall, and their 
associates, obtained by their holiness and learning 
official recognition of the Catholic religion from the 
emperor, and erected a large number of churches. 

In Mexico, where 20,000 human victims were 
yearly sacrificed on the altars of the false gods, 
Franciscan Fathers from Spain established the faith 
and brought peace and civilization to the poor 
Indians. 

Franciscan Fathers became the pioneers of the 
cross also in New Mexico and California (Father 
Junipero). 

In North America Jesuits (Breboeuf, Jogues, 
Marquette, and others) labored among the savage 
Indian tribes, and many of them won the crown of 
martyrdom. 

In South America the Jesuits converted the bar- 
barian population of Paraguay and changed the 
wilderness into a prosperous country. 

All over South America, Central America, and 
in the newly discovered regions of Africa, Fran- 
ciscan, Dominican, and Jesuits missionaries evan- 
gelized the heathen inhabitants. 

Note. — The apostasy in the sixteenth century, with the en- 
suing revolutions and wars, caused such a decline of religion 
and morality in the Countries afflicted by it, that even Luther 
had to confess : "Under the Pope's rule, the people were mild 
and generous ; but, under the new gospel, nobody will give, 
but the one cheats the other ; and, the longer the gospel is 
preached, the more the people are sinking into avarice, pride, 
and luxury. Verily, the devil has got twice into them." 
Meanwhile, the Church of God, which the blasphemous apos- 
tate monk had pretended to reform, arose from the fire of 
affliction with renewed vigor, and stood forth as the immaculate 
Spouse of Christ, exalted by the sanctity, learning, and zeal 
of her children. 



Chapter XIV. 
The Eighteenth Century. 

166. Q. What was the final outcome of the Protestant 
heresy? 

R. After setting aside the authority of God's 
Church, and making each individual the interpreter 
of his own Bible and the framer of his own religion, 
men advanced from denying certain doctrines of 
Christianity to the denial of all revealed religion, 
and thus ended in infidelity. 

167. Q. What did they call themselves ? 

R. They called themselves " Free-thinkers, n 
i. e. y men, who recognize no Divine authority in 
matters of religion, — 

Or "Rationalists," i. e., men, who form their 
religious ideas from weak human reason and nature 
alone. 

168. Q. Where did free-thought originate? 

R. Free-thought originated in Protestant Eng- 
land and spread to Holland, France, Germany, and 
the United States. 

169. Q. Who became its most notorious promoters ? 

R. The so-called Encyclopedists of France, a 
society of free-thinkers, who were filled with satanic 
hatred against Christ and his Church, and had 
sworn to destroy it. Voltaire was their prophet. 
After a life of unspeakable immorality and blas- 
phemy he died in despair. 

(82) 



83 

The most prominent encyclopedists were Diderot and 
P'Alembert. Their friend J. J. Rousseau wrote books which 
undermined the existing order in Church and state. He 
taught a religion of nature without Christ, education without 
God, and a state, in which right and law are derived solely 
from the people's will, completely ignoring God who is the 
prime source of right and law. In his book on education he 
blasphemously answers a beggar who had asked alms "for the 
sake of God": "No, not for the sake of God, but for the sake 
of man." He became the prophet of the so-called religion of 
humanity, which was intended to replace christian charity. 

170. Q. What sect adopted free-thought as its doctrine? 

R. Freemasonry, which was founded in London 

on the 24th of July, 1717, adopted free-thought as 

its fundamental doctrine. Bound by oaths of 

secrecy, it spread quietly but swiftly through the 

world, and everywhere opposed the Church of God. 

Pope Clement XII. put the censure of excommunication on 
Freemasonry, and all succeeding popes renewed it. 

171. Q. Did the rulers and governments oppose free- 
thought and Freemasonry 2 

R. Many of the rulers and governments of 
Christian countries became not only infected, but 
even upheld and fostered them among their people. 

172. (J. What false doctrines about the relation of 
Church and State added to the dangers of the age? 

R. The doctrines of Gallicanism and Joseph- 
inism, which arrogated to the princes undue power 
in ecclesiastical affairs and tended to reduce the 
Church to the condition of a mere servant of the 
state. (Compare list of the popes of the 18th 
Century.) 

173. Q. Which Catholic countries became infested with 
these doctrines 2 

R. These false doctrines were put into execu- 



84 

tion by Joseph II., emperor of Austria, and other 
German princes. (Josepliinism). 

The government of Portugal, and the kings of 
the Bourbon family who ruled in France, Spain, 
and in several of the Italian states, combined for 
the same purpose. (Gallicanism). 

174. Q. To what unfortunate measure did they force the 
Pope? 

R. In the year 1772, they forced Pope Clement 
XIV. to decree the abolition of the Jesuit Order, 
which had been one of the strongest bulwarks of 
the Church and the rights of the Papacy since the 
so-called Reformation. 

175. Q. What was the aim of these Catholic rulers in 
their hostility to the Church? 

R. Like the Protestant princes who had become 
supreme in spiritual as well as in temporal things 
and thus obtained absolute power over their people, 
the Catholic princes now also slight absolute 
power to the detriment of religioW and political 
liberty. 

176. Q. What were the consequences of these destructire 
measures? 

R. 1. The absolute power of princes severely 
curtailed the people's rights. 

2. Unprincipled free-thought set loose the spirit 
of rebellion and anarchy. 

3. The Church, shackled by unjust state laws, 
was unable to protect the people against their 
oppressors, as she did in the Middle Ages ; nor 
could she guard their just struggles for liberty 
against the excesses of anarchy. 



$5 

This absolute power of princes was declared in a most pro- 
nounced manner by King Louis XIV. of France who sent the 
representatives of the people home from parliament with the 
defiant words. "I am the state." With equal haughtiness he 
lorded it over the Church in his kingdom according to Galli- 
can principles and opposed the Holy See. 

177. Q. What was the final result? 

R. The fearful French Revolution broke out in 
1789 and filled France with bloodshed and Europe 
with horror. 

The national assembly promulgated the so-called Rights of 
Man in 17 articles. The most important of them declared, 
that the people is sovereign and its will supreme law, under- 
stood so as to ignore God and His law, natural as well as re- 
vealed. (According to Rousseau.) 

178. Q. To what excesses did free-thought lead men in 
this revolution? 

R. 1. They declared publicly in their assembly 
at Paris, that France had ceased to acknowledge 
God, and then brought a bad woman in solemn 
procession to the church, where they placed heron 
the altar and worshipped her as goddess of reason. 

2. They established the guillotine, and, after 
having beheaded their King, Louis XVI. and his 
wife, Queen Mary Antoinette, they sent daily about 
two hundred victims of all classes and sexes to the 
guillotine. Two millions of innocent French people 
perished within a few years in the name of reason 
and liberty. 

The national assembly decreed the confiscation of all church 
property and framed a civil constitution of the clergy, con- 
trary to canon law. But only three bishops and very few 
priests obeyed, whereas 127 bishops and 50.000 priests pre- 
ferred exile, poverty, prison and death to apostasy. 

179. Q. Who were the leaders of this fearful terrorism % 

R. Robespierre, Marat, and Danton were the 
leaders in this reign of terror. 



&6 

180. Q. How did the revolution end ? 

R. Trembling for their own lives, Robespierre 
and his party announced that the French nation 
should believe again in God and in the immortality 
of the soul. But they also fell victims to the guil- 
lotine as they had deserved. 

181. Q. How did the revolution treat Pope Pius VII 

R. The venerable Pontiff who had forbidden 
the oath on the civil constitution of the clergy as 
unlawful, was brutally dragged into captivity and 
died at Valence, France, 82 years old, with gentle 
pardon for the persecutors on his lips. 

Then infidelity boastfully announced the end of the papacy, 
but six months later Pope Pius VII. was elected at Venice to 
succeed in the undestructible chair of St. Peter. 

182. Q. What was the final outcome of the revolution? 

R. The final outcome of the revolution was the 
empire of the French, established and ruled by 
Napoleon Bonaparte. 

183. Q. What measures did he take in order to give 
stability to his government 2 

R. Knowing that without God and religion no 
nation can prosper, he made peace with the Church 
and gave religious freedom. 

184. Q. Did he persevere in his friendliness to the 
Church % 

R. Blinded by his worldly success, he dared to 
attack the Pope, Pius VII., and had him brought 
as prisoner to France. 

185. (J. How did God punish this sacrilege? 

R. On the snowfields of Russia Napoleon's im- 
mense army, which had conquered Europe, was de- 



87 



stroyed by the elements, and out of a million soldiers 
only about fifty thousand returned. Napoleon died 
a prisoner on the Island of St. Helena, but Pope 
Pius VII. returned triumphantly to Rome. 

NOTE. — Twenty years of bloody wars followed the outbreak 
of the French revolution and swept with destructive fury over 
the countries of Europe. Finally, when, after a three days' 
battle at Leipsic, the power of Napoleon had been overthrown 
and the allied rulers of Europe met on the blood-stained bat- 
tlefield, they recognized in fear and trembling the judgment of 
God over the infidelity of the eighteenth century, and, kneel- 
ing down, they pledged themselves solemnly: "We and our 
people will serve the Lord." 



Chapter XV. 
The Nineteenth Century. 

186. <$. What great task awaited the action of the Church 
at the beginning of this century? 

R. The great task of reorganizing Church affairs 
in those countries where the destructive teachings 
of the eighteenth century and the ravages of the 
revolution had spread. 

187. <J. In what respects had the Chnrch suffered most? 

R. I. Communications between Rome and the 
bishops of the different countries had been either 
severed or hampered by unjust laws. 

2. Episcopal sees had been abolished or kept 
vacant by the government. 

3. Religious orders had been suppressed and 
their property confiscated. 

4. The losses in property and funds, which the 
Church suffered through the so-called seculariza- 
tion, were enormous and left her almost destitute. 

The value of secularized ecclesiastical property in Germany 
alone amounted in the year 1803 to about 300 million dollars. 
The poor religious, driven from their sacred homes, were left 
a prey to poverty and starvation. Chalices, reliquaries, sacred 
vessels and even the silver clasps of missals were taken and 
carried to the mint. In France the Church was even more 
despoiled. In Austria 700 and in Spain 900 convents were 
confiscated. What had been left by the followers of Protes- 
tantism in the 16th century, was now taken by the followers 
of Voltaire, Rousseau and Freemasonry. 

(88) 



188. Q. Name the Popes who engaged in the work of 
restoration ? 

R. Popes Pius Vll. , Leo XII. , Gregory XVI. , 
and Pius IX., who concluded concordats or agree- 
ments with the different governments, whereby 
the relations between Church and State were peace- 
ably settled. (Compare list of the popes of the 19th 
century. ) 

While the Church always conscientiously observed the 
rules of these concordats, different states, such as France, 
Spain, Portugal, and others, violated them whenever it was to 
their advantage. 

189. Q. What Pope had the longest and most eventful 
pontificate in this century 2 

R. Pope Pius IX., who ruled in the see of St. 
Peter for thirty-two years. 

1. In his encyclicals and in the famous Syllabus 
he exposed and condemned the false doctrines of 
Gallicanism and Liberalism. 

The Syllabus is a list of propositions, condemned in papal 
encyclicals (i. e. letters to the bishops). For instance, under 
No. 48 the pope condemns the proposition, that Catholics may 
approve, for their own children, of a school education from 
which religious instruction is debarred. 

2. In the year 1854 he solemnly declared the 
dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed 
Virgin Mary. 

3. In the year 1869 he convened the great Ecu- 
menical Council of the Vatican, in which the 
dogma of the Infallibility of the Pope in solemn 
decisions on matters of faith and morals was de- 
clared. 

In the year 1858 the Bl. Virgin appeared at Lourdes and 
declared: "I am the Immaculate Conception." Numerous 
miracles followed, and thus the dogma, promulgated by the 



90 

Pope, received the seal of Heaven, preparing the world for the 
o'ther dogma, that such solemn decisions of the Pope are in- 
fallible. 

190. Q. What illustrious Pope succeeded Pius 1X2 

R. Pope Leo XIII. succeeded Pope Pius IX. 
on the 20th of February, 1878, and governed the 
Church with wisdom, meekness, and energy. 

Pope Pius X. succeeded Pope Leo XIII. 
August 4th, 1903. 

The long pontificate of Leo XIII. has been a continual 
message of peace and reconciliation to a restless world. In 
his profound encyclicals he instructed the faithful with apos- 
tolic wisdom on the grave questions which distract our age. 
He announced the great jubilee at the beginning of the 20th 
century and sent out from the chair of St. Peter a solemn 
appeal to the nations to return to Jesus Christ, the Redeemer 
of the world. 

191. Q. How did Divine Providence aid these efforts of 
the Pontiffs for the Church? 

R. Divine Providence raised up in all countries 
large numbers of great and holy men. and women, 
who labored with wonderful success in the interests 
of religious liberty and piety, Christian science and 
education, charity and social progress. 

Montalembert, Lacordaire, Ozanam, and others in France ; 
Overberg, Witrnann, Goerres, Mallinkrodt, Ketteler, Windt- 
horst, and others in Germany; Daniel O'Connell, Father 
Matthew, Archbishop McHale, and others in Ireland ; Cardi- 
nals Wiseman, Newman, Manning, and others in England; 
Donoso-Cortes, Balmes, and others in Spain ; Sterks, De Ram, 
Dechamps, and others in Belgium ; Lachat, Greith, Mermillod. 
and others in Switzerland ; and in the United States, Bishops 
Cheverus, Carroll, Neuinan, England, Hughes, Spalding, and 
others, and laymen like Orestes Brownson, the First Sister of 
Charity, Mrs. Seton, and others. 

The spirit, animating these noble Catholics, is beautifully 
expressed in the words, with which Malliukrodt closed his 
famous speech in defense of the Church before the German 
diet: "Through the cross to the light;" or in Montalembert's 
address before the French parliament : "We are the successors 
of the martyrs and tremble not before the successors of Julian, 



91 

the apostate ; we are the sons of the crusaders and will not 
budge before the sons of Voltaire ;" or in Daniel O'Connell's 
dying wish : "My heart to Rome, my body to Ireland, my soul 
to God." 

192. Q. What about the religious orders in this century? 

R. The Society of Jesus was solemnly re- 
established by Pope Pius VII. (1814), and soon 
grew to large dimensions. The old religious 
orders, which had been despoiled and persecuted 
toward the end of the last and the beginning of this 
century, arose with new vigor and since then have 
greatly increased in numbers and influence. A very 
large number of new religious orders and congre- 
gations, working mainly in the cause of Christian 
education and charity, have sprung up and spread 
over the old and the new world. 

Among the new religious orders in our -own country we 
note the congregations (for men) of the Holy Cross with its 
university of Notre Dame, of the Precious Blood, and of the 
Holy Ghost, the Brothers of Mary, of St. Francis Xavier, and 
of the Sacred Heart. 

Sisters of the Sacred Heart, of the Holy Cross, of the Im- 
maculate Heart of Mary, of St. Francis, St. Dominic, St. 
Benedict, St. Joseph, St. Agnes, of the Presentation, Notre 
Dame, Mercy, Charity, Precious Blood, I,oretto, Holy Family, 
the Handmaids of Christ, Oblates, Little Sisters of the Poor 
and many others. 

193, <}. How does the Church prosper in the different 
parts of the world ? 

R. 1. In the United States of North America 
the growth of the Church has been surprising. The 
first pioneers of the Cross were Sulpitian, Domini- 
can, Franciscan and Jesuit Missionaries who labored 
along the St. Lawrence and the northern lakes, in 
New Mexico and California. 

The later English colonies, established on the 



92 

Atlantic coast, were Protestant and forbade Catholic 
worship by law. Lord Baltimore with 300 Catholic 
immigrants from England and two Jesuit fathers 
founded a colony called Maryland, as an asylum for 
the persecuted Catholics of England. This was the 
first American colony which gave "full toleration in 
religious matters" to all. After the war of inde- 
pendence religious liberty was granted by the con- 
stitution. In 1789 there was but one bishop, John 
Carroll of Baltimore, and 30,000 Catholics, and at 
the end of this century there are ten million Catho- 
lics, one cardinal, fourteen archbishops, and 
seventy-three bishops. Three great national coun- 
cils have been held in Baltimore, and churches, 
schools, and convents cover the land. 

Canada, which in the year 181 7 had but one 
bishop, has at present seven archbishops and 
twenty-four bishops. 

2. In Australia, the English government forbade 
Catholic worship with' great intolerance up to the 
year 1820 ; since then Catholic priests have been 
admitted and there are now 600,000 Catholics in a 
total population of three millions. 

3. In Asia, Catholic missions are expanding 
continually, in spite of repeated bloody persecu- 
tions. 

4. In Africa, new missionary fields have been 
opened by explorers, and are now being evangelized 
by numerous zealous priests. 

5. In Europe, the Church is making great prog- 
ress, especially in those countries that were for- 
merly exclusively Protestant, such as England, 
Scotland, Holland, Denmark, and Scandinavia. 



93 

194. (J. Has the Church passed through persecutions in 
this century also? 

R. Yes ; she has passed through many and 
violent persecutions : 

1. In 1870, the Italian government seized by 
force the Papal States, and made the Holy Father 
virtually a prisoner in the Vatican. 

2. In Germany, a violent persecution broke out 
in 1873 (May laws), but the Catholics, faithful to 
their bishops and priests, bore it with patient for- 
titude and by united political efforts forced the 
government to desist. 

3. Russia, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, 
and some of the South American republics, also 
had periods of persecution. 

195. Q. How did these persecutions affect the Catholic 
people? 

R. These persecutions have increased the faith 
and energy of the Catholic people, who everywhere 
defend fearlessly the rights of the Church. Piety 
and religious vocations are on the increase ; chari- 
table and educational institutions multiply ; sacred 
and secular science are eagerly cultivated ; bishops, 
priests, and people are united in loyal submission 
to the Holy See. 

196. Q. What has been the numeric development of the 
Church from the day of Pentecost to the present time? 

R. On the day of Pentecost, when the twelve 
Apostles went forth from the Coenaculum to preach 
the Gospel , the Church numbered but a few hundred 
members within the walls of Jerusalem. To-day, 
after a lapse of 1800 years, she has expanded and 
is still expanding in ever- widening circles over the 



94 

whole earth, and counts three-hundred millions of 
children among all races, nations, and tribes of the 
world. 

Thus the prophetic parable of our Lord, in which He com- 
pares His Church to a grain of mustard-seed, is being daily 
fulfilled. 

197. Q. What dangers threaten Christendom at the 
present time? 

R. i. The spirit of infidelity, which is fostered 
by godless education, a licentious press, and secret 
societies. 

2. The spirit of anarchy, which threatens 
authority, law, and order. 

3. The spirit of liberalism, which pretends to 
reconcile Catholic truth with the false doctrines of 
modern thought. 

4. The spirit of socialism and communism, which 
attempts to destroy the family and the rights of 
property. 

5. The dangerous and widespread error, that 
man may save his soul through the natural virtues 
(for instance temperance, honesty, brotherly love, 
patriotism, humaneness and a certain outward 
respect for God and religion), needing neither 
actual nor sanctifying grace, nor supernatural faith, 
hope and charity. (See Pelagianism Ch. III.) 

198. Q. What alone can save the world from such 
dangers? 

R. The return of men to the teachings and 
graces which Jesus Christ entrusted to His Church. 
This alone can save the world from the grave 
dangers which threaten the very existence of human 
society. 



95 

199. Q. What is the future of the Church at the end of the 
19th century? 

R. The future of the Church will be like the 
past. 

She will pass on through time, blessing the 
world with God's truth and grace. 

She will suffer persecution for justice's sake, like 
Him who founded her. 

She can never perish, because she is the work of 
God, and the Holy Ghost dwells in her till the end 
of time. 

In short, she will be the Church militant on earth, 
and, finally, the Church triumphant forever in 
heaven. 

Note. — Eighteen hundred years have passed since Christ 
built His Church upon the rock of St. Peter. The persecu- 
tions of hostile state power, the slanders of lying heresy, the 
sneering of infidel philosophers, the treason of some of her 
own children, have combined against her from century to 
century, but she stands forever in serene majesty on the rock 
where her Divine Master has placed her, while the angry 
waves of human passions and hell's undying hatred beat 
against it. She blesses the world, prays for her enemies, and 
guides her children to Heaven. She fears not, for she is ever 
conscious of the Divine promise: "Thou art Peter, and upon 
this rock I will build my Church, and the powers of hell shall 
not prevail against it." 

May we always love her, the benign mother of our souls, 
and cling to her with unshaken faith, whatever storms the 
dark powers of hell and the pride of the world may raise 
against her, and in her afflictions show her even greater love, 
as Mary and the chosen friends showed to Our Lord under the 
cross. Let us remember the beautiful words in which the 
English poet Dryden has described her : 

"A milk-white hind, immortal and unchanged, 

Fed on the lawns and in the forest ranged ; 

Without unspotted, innocent within, — 

She feared no danger for she knew no sin. 

Yet oft was she pursued .... was often forced to fly 

And doomed to death, but fated not to die." 



List of the Popes. 

(According to the Gerarchia Cattolica, official edition, Jan. 12, 1904, 
Rome.) 



Jesns Christ, the Son of God 

and Founder of the Church, said to Simon : "Thou art Peter 
(a rock), and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the 
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to 
thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. And whatsoever 
thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven, 
and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed 
also in heaven." St. Matt. XVI, 18, 19. "Feed my lambs, 
feed my sheep." St. John xxi, 15 — 17. 
In virtue of this divine appointment 

St. Peter „ .33— 67 

became, after the Ascension of Christ, the head of the Church, 
The First Pope. 

2. St. Linus 67 — 76 

born at Volaterra, Italy, is mentioned by St. Paul in the sec- 
ond letter to Timothy, and succeeded St. Peter in the year 67. 

3. St. Ctetus 76— S8 

Rome, Martyr. 

4. St. dement I. 88—97 

Rome, Martyr. He is mentioned by St. Paul in his letter to 
the Philippians (I, 4). He has left us a letter to the Corinth- 
ians, full of pastoral wisdom, and is numbered among the 
apostolic Fathers. 

Note. — The list of the Popes of the first and second cen- 
turies has been left to us by St. Ireuaeus, bishop of Lyons, 
who wrote about the year 200. He says : "With the Church 
of Rome all churches must agree on account of her higher 
rank." (Adv. haereses 3, 3.) 

(96) 



97 



Century II. — 10 Popes. 

5. St. Evaristus 95 — ioj 

Bethlehem, Martyr, prescribed that matrimony should re- 
ceive the solemn benediction of the priest. 

6. St. Alexander 1 105 — iij 

Rome, Martyr, insisted on the use of holy water in the 
churches and houses. J 

7. St. Sixtus I us— 125 

Rome, Martyr. To him is ascribed the insertion of the three- 
fold Sanctus in the Mass. 

8. St. Telesphorus 125 — ij6 

Greece, Martyr. Confirmed the Lenten fast and inserted the 
Gloria in the Mass. Marcion, who had been excommunicated 
for heresy by his bishop, came to Rome in order to be 
reconciled, but was rejected by the Pope on account of his 
hypocrisy. 

9. St. Hyginjis 136 — 140 

Athens, Martyr. Instituted Subdeaconship and Minor Orders. 

10. St. Pius I. 140 — 755 

Aquileja, Italy, Martyr; insisted that Easter should be cele- 
brated on a Sunday. 

11. St. Anicetus .755 — 166 

Syria, Martyr. St. Polycarp came to Rome in order to confer 
with him about the time of the celebration of Easter. 

12. St. Soterus 166 — 775 

Fondi, Italy, Martyr. He sent spiritual and temporal relief 
to the Christians, who suffered for the faith in exile and in 
the mines. 

13. St. Eleutherius .... 173 — i8g 

Epirus, Martyr. He sent priests to Britain at the request of 
King l/ucius. 

14. St. Victor I. 189 — 199 

Africa, Martyr. He convened a council in Rome, in order to 
settle the dispute of the bishops of Asia Minor about the 
celebration of Easter. 



98 

Century III. — 15 Popes. 

13. .Sy. Zephyrinus 199 — 217 

Rome, Martyr, forbade metropolitans to pass sentence on 
their suffragan bishops without the consent of the Holy See. 
Tertullian wrote about the year 210 of this pope: "I hear 
that a peremptory decision has been given. The supreme 
pontiff, the bishop of bishops, has said: 'I remit sin to those 
who are penitent.' " 

16. St. Calixtus I. 21J — 222 

Rome, Martyr. One of the largest catacombs of Rome bears 
his name. The Church has always held his memory in great 
esteem on account of his successful combats against the 
heretics of his age. 

77. St. Urban 1 222 — 230 

Rome, Martyr. In his reign St. Cecilia suffered martyrdom 
and left her large property to the Church. 

18. St. Pontianus 230 — 233 

Rome, Martyr, was banished to the mines of Sardinia, where 
he suffered the severest privations and such brutal treatment, 
that he died from its effects. 

19. St. Antherus 233 — 236 

Greece, Martyr, ordered the collection of the acts of .the 
martyrs. 

20. St. Fabian 236 — 230 

Rome, Martyr. The historian Eusebius relates that the 
choice fell on him, because a dove had perched on his head 
at the election. 

21. St. Cornelius 230 — 233 

Rome, Martyr. In his reign the clergy of Rome numbered 
200, and the faithful 50,000. He convened a council in which 
Novatian, a schismatic anti-pope, was excommunicated. 

22. St. Lucius I -253 — 234 

Rome, Martyr, suffered exile for the faith. 



99 



23- St. Stephen I. 354—257 

Rome, Martyr. He upheld against St. Cyprian, bishop of 
Carthage, the ancient custom of the Church, not to rebaptize 
persons who had been baptized in due form by heretics. 

24. St. Status II 257 — 258 

Greece, Martyr. The famous martyrdom of St. Lawrence 
took place three days after his, according to his prediction. 

25. St. Dionysius 259 — 268 

Italy. 

26. St. Felix 1 269—274 

Rome, Martyr, prescribed the rite for the dedication of 
churches. In his letter to the bishop of Alexandria he stated 
the teaching of the Church on the Bl. Trinity so clearly that 
the Council of Ephesus (431) quoted from it. 

In the dispute about the bishopric of Antioch, provoked 
by the heresy of Paul of Samosata, Emperor Aurelian gave 
the remarkable decision: "Let him be bishop of Antioch 
who is in communion with the bishops of Italy, especially 
with the bishop of Rome." 

27. St. Eutychian 275—283 

Luni, Tuscany, Martyr. He forbade Holy Communion to 
drunkards, until they had reformed, but ordered wine to be 
blessed on the altar in condemnation of the Manichean heresy. 

28. St. Caius 283—296 

Dalmatia, Martyr, was a near relation of Emperor Diocletian 
and converted many of the Roman nobility. 

29. St. Marcellinus 296—304 

Rome, Martyr. 

Ckntury IV. — 10 Popes. 

30. St. Marcellus I .304—309 

Rome, Martyr, insisted that councils used the approbation of 
the Holy See. 

31. St. Eusebins 309—310 

Greek from southern Italy. 



100 

32. St. Miltiades .311—314 

Africa. The last of the Popes buried in the catacombs. With 
the conversion of Emperor Constantine the era of persecutions 
ceased. For two hundred years, from St. Peter to St. Marcel- 
lus, the Popes had died the death of martyrdom for the fun- 
damental truth of Christianity, that Christ is the Son of God. 
Now the Church comes forth from the catacombs and the 
spiritual supremacy of the Popes over the whole Christian 
world appears plainly as an acknowledged fact. 

33. St. Sylvester I 314—335 

Rome, prescribed that the altars be of stone and covered with 
linen. His legates presided over the General Council of Nice 
(3 2 5)» i n which Arianism was condemned. • 

34. St. Mark 336 

Rome. The first Pope who conferred the pallium. 

35. St. Julius I. 337— 352 

Rome, decreed the celebration of Christmas on the 25th of 
December for the whole Church. St. Athanasius, bishop of 
Alexandria, appealed to him and was upheld by him against 
the Arian bishops. He declared to the bishops of the coun- 
cil, held at Sardica: "The Canons of the Church forbid, that 
decrees be published by the bishops without the sanction of 
the bishop of Rome." 

36. St. Liberius 352 — 366 

Rome. He wrote to the Arian emperor : "Do not interfere in 
Church affairs and give not precepts, but rather learn them 
from us." He bore his exile with fortitude and returned an 
unconquered defender of the faith. 

37. St. Damasus I. 366 — 3S4 

Spain, (Rome?), one of the most learned and zealous popes 
of Christian antiquity. He called St. Jerome to Rome, who 
at his request made his famous translation of the Holy Scrip- 
tures, called the Vulgate. In a synod at Rome he condemned 
the eirors of Macedonius, three years before the council of 
Constantinople (II. General Council, held at Constantinople 
A. D. 381) and conferred by his sanction the title "ecumeni- 
cal" upon it. The creed of the council of Nice was enlarged 
at this council. 



101 



38. St. Siricius 384 — 399 

Rome, held several councils for the suppression of heresies. 

39. St. Anastasius I. 399 — 401 

Rome, censured the errors of Origen. 

. Century V. — 12 Popes. 

40. St. Innocent I 401 — 417 

Albano, Italy. The bishops of northern Africa sent the acts 
of their council, in which the heresy of Pelagius was con- 
demned to him. He approved them and excommunicated 
Pelagius. Then St. Augustine wrote: "The acts have been 
sent to the Holy See and the answer has arrived. The case 
is finished ; let the heresy how have an end." 

41. St. Zozimus 417 — 418 

Greece, permitted the blessing of the Easter-candle in all 
parish churches. 

42. St. Boniface I „; 418 — 422 

Rome, admonished the bishops of France to obtain for their 
councils the confirmation of the Holy See. 

43. St. Celestine 1 422 — 432 

Campagna, Italy. In his reign St. Patrick, who had received 
apostolic faculties from him, converted Ireland. He sent St. 
Palladius from Rome to Scotland as its first bishop. When 
the heresy of Nestorius became known, St. Cyril, bishop of 
Alexandria appealed to Rome, and Pope Celestine convened 
the III. General Council, held at Kphesus (A. D. 431), in 
which the heresy of Nestorius was condemned. 

,44. St. Sixtus III 432 — 440 

Rome. 

43. St. Leo I 440 — 461 

the Great, Tusculum. He saved Rome from the disastrous 
invasion of the barbarian Huns. The IV. General Council 
which condemned the heresy of Eutyches, was convened at 
Chalcedon, A. D. 451. When Anatolius, patriarch of Con- 
stantinople, requested the council to grant to his see the 
place of honor next to Rome, Pope Leo wrote to the emperor: 
'Anatolius may boast of being bishop of the imperial resi- 
dence, but he cannot make it an apostolic See." 



102 

40. St. Hilary 461 — 468 

Sardinia. From him dates the beginning of the great Vatican 
Library. 

47. St. Simplicius 468 — 483 

Tivoli, Italy. 

48. St. Felix III 483 — 4g2 

Rome. In his reign occurred the famous miracle of Tipasa, 
where 300 Christian martyrs, whose tongues had been cut out 
by the persecutors, continued to speak and to sing the praises 
of Christ to the wonder of the world. 

49. St. Gelasius 1 492 — 496 

Africa. He held a council in Rome, by which the canon of 
the Holy Scriptures was decreed and a large number of apo- 
cryphal books was rejected. He introduced the feast of the 
Purification of the Blessed Virgin. 

30. St. Anastasius II 496 — 498 

Rome. Conversion of Clovis, king of the Franks. 

31. St. Symmachus ... 498—314 

Sardinia. Protected the Church in troubled times against 
schism and heresy, and supported 225 bishops, exiled during 
the persecution, in Africa. When the Arian king Theodoric 
convened a synod and demanded, that the bishops should , 
condemn Symmachus, the} 7 answered: "It has never hap- 
pened, that the head of the Church was judged by his 
subjects." 

Century VI. — 13 Popes. 

32. St. Hormisdas 314—323 

Frosinone, Italy. He upheld the decrees of the Council of 
Chalcedon against the violeuce of Emperor Anastasius. 

33. St. John I - 323—326 

Tuscany, Martyr. The Arian Theodoric, king of the Visi- 
goths, commenced a persecution, during which the holy Pope 
died in prison and the famous Christian philosopher Boethius 
was beheaded. 



103 



S4- &> Felix IV. 526—530 

Benevent, Italy. 

55. Boniface II 530—532 

Rome. Under him the learned Dionysius Exiguus intro- 
duced the counting of the Christian era, commencing with 
the birth of Christ. 

56. John II 532—535 

Rome. Emperor Justinian of Constantinople addressed him 
in his letter as the head of all churches. 

57. St. Agapitus 535—536 

Rome. 

58. St. Silverius 536—538 

Frosinone, Italy, Martyr. Died in exile, whither the emperor 
had sent him at the instigation of the Monophysites. The 
bishop of Patara defended him before the emperor, and said : 
"Remember, there are many kings on earth, but only one 
Pope over all the churches of the world." 

59. Vigilius 538—555 

Rome. Under him the V. General Council was convened at 
Constantinople and the famous dispute about the so-called 
Three Chapters settled (553). When Emperor Justinian used 
violence against the Pope, he answered: "You can make a 
prisoner of me, but not of the apostle St. Peter." 

60. Pelagius I 555~56i 

Rome. 

61. John III 561—574 

Rome. 

62. Benedict I. 575— 579 

Rome, in a period of war and famine a benefactor of Italy. 

65. Pelagius II 579— 590 

Rome. Italy was visited by a fearful pestilence during which 
the Pope turned his house into a hospital and died a victim 
of his self-sacrificing charity. 
8 



104 

64. St. Gregory I. 590 — 604 

the Great, Rome. One of the greatest Fathers and Doctors 
of the Church. He sent St. Augustine with 40 Benedictine 
monks to convert England. He reformed the plain chant, 
and developed a wonderful activity in establishing ecclesias- 
tical discipline and order in all parts of the world. Through 
the head of the Church he styled himself "the servant of the 
servants of God." 

Century VII. — 20 Popes. 

65. Sabinian 604 — 606 

Frascati, Italy. Introduction of bells. 

66. Boniface III 607 

Rome. Emperor Phocas forbade the patriarch of Constan- 
tinople to use the title ecumenical, "because", he said, 
"Rome is the see of St. Peter and head of all churches." 

67. St. Boniface IV. 60S— 615 

Marsi, Italy, dedicated the ancient Pantheon, or temple of 
all pagan Gods, to the Blessed Virgin. Institution of All- 
Saints day. 

68. St. Adeodatus 1 615—618 

Rome, displayed heroic charity during a fearful pestilence. 

6p. Boniface V. 619 — 625 

Naples, took the young church of England under his special 
care. 

70. Honorius I. 625—638 

Campagna, Italy. He has been censured for having been 
remiss in condemning the heresy of the Monothelites. But 
this remissness was caused by the deceiving letter of Sergius, 
Patriarch of Constantinople, their leader. He encouraged 
the conversion of England, and sent St. Birinus as bishop of 
Dorchester. 

7/. Severinus 640 

Rome. 



105 



72. John IV. 640—642 

Dalmatia, expended the treasures of the Church to redeem 
captive Christians, and sent warning to the clergy of Scot- 
land against a threatened revival of Pelagianism. 

73. Theodore I , 642 — 649 

Greece. 86 African bishops sent to him a synodal letter, in 
which they had written : "Since the earliest age it has been 
law, that decrees, formed in the most distant provinces, re- 
ceive their legal force only through the confirming authority 
of the Roman See." 

74. St. Martin I 649—655 

Todi, Italy, Martyr. For having condemned the heresy of the 
Monothelites, he was dragged a prisoner to Constantinople 
and sent into exile, where he died a martyr to the Faith. 

75. St. Eugene I 655—656) 

Rome. 

76. St. Vitalian 657—672 

Segni, Italy, sent the learned monk Theodore to England, as 
archbishop of Canterbury with jurisdiction over all England. 
His coming introduced an era of sacred and secular learning 
and education. Convents and convent schools flourished, 
which produced famous men like Venerable Bede, Alcuin 
and many others. 

In.roduction of organs into the churches of Italy. 

77. Adeolatus II 672—676 

Rome. 

78. Bonus I 676—678 

Rome. 

79. St. Agatho 678—682 

a Greek, born in Palmero, Sicily. In his letter to the VI. 
General Council (at Constantinople, 680) he says: "It is a 
fact, that this See (Rome) through the grace of God has never 
strayed from the apostolic tradition and has never been 
tainted by heresy, because it has been said to Peter: 'I have 
prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.' " 



106 



80. St. Leo II , 682—683 

Sicily. In his decree, confirming the VI. General Council, 
he says: "We confirm it with the authority of St. Peter." 

81. St. Benedict II 684—685 

Rome. 

82. John V. ; 685—686 

Syria. 

83. Conon 686—687 

Thrace. Ordained St. Kilian, apostle of Franconia, Germany. 

84. St. Sergius 1 68/ — 701 

a Syrian, born in Palmero, Sicily. Cedualla, King of East 
Anglia, Britain, was baptized in Rome. Sergius made St. 
Willibrord, the apostle of Friesland, bishop of that country. 

Century VIII. — 13 Popes. 

85. John VI - 701 — 705 

Greece, held a Synod in Rome, in order to settle the dispute 
about the See of York, England. 

86. John VII. 705 — 707 

Greece. 

87. Sisinnius 70S 

Syria. 

88. Constanttne 708 — 7/5 

Syria. In his reign two English kings, Conrad of Mercia 
and Offa of Essex, came to Rome, resigned their crowns and 
entered a monastery. 

89. St. Gregory II 715—73* 

Rome. He gave apostolic faculties to St. Corbinian, the 
apostle of Bavaria, and ordained St. Boniface, the apostle of 
Germany, bishop, and made him primate of Germany. 

Leo, the Isaurian, emperor of Constantinople, began the 
dispute about sacred images. (Iconoclasts.) 

go. St. Gregory III 731—74* 

Syria, held a Council in Rome against the Iconoclasts. 



107 



p/. St. Zachary 741 — 752 

Greece. He saved Rome from the assault of the Lombards, 
and ratified the election of Pepin to the throne of the Franks. 

92. Stephen II. 752 

Rome, died before his consecration. 

93. St. Stephen III -752—757 

Rome. He anointed Pepin, King of the Franks, at Paris. 
Pepin defeated the troublesome Lombards and gave the pro- 
vinces and cities, taken from them, to the Holy See. 

94. St. Paul 1 757—767 

Rome, turned his father's house into a convent and was a 
zealous patron of monastic life. 

95. Stephen IV. 768—771 

Sicily. 

96. Adrian I. 771 — 795 

Rome. Friend of Charles, the Great. VII. General Council 
(at Nice, 787), which condemned the heresy of the Iconoclasts. 

97. St. Leo III 795—816 

Rome. Consecrated Charles, the Great, Roman emperor of 
the West, and protector of the Church. King Aethelwolf of 
England brought his son Alfred (later the Great) to Rome, 
to have his son anointed king by the Pope. 

Century IX. — 20 Popes. 

98. St. Stephen V. 816—817 

Rome. 

99. St. Paschal I. 817—824 

Rome, showed great zeal for the conversion of Denmark. 

100. Eugene II. 824 — 827 

Rome, held a council in Rome which decreed that in all 
episcopal cities, in parishes, and fitting localities, schools for 
common and higher education should be erected. 



108 

ioi. Valentine 827 

Rome, reigned 40 days. 

102. Gregory IV. 828—844 

Rome, conferred the pallium on St. Ansgar, and appointed 
him apostolic legate over the northern nations. 

103. Sergius II. 844 — 847 

Rome, called a father of the poor, the orphans and widows. 

104. St. Leo IV. ..847 — 855 

Rome. The piratical Saracens, who ravaged the coasts of 
Italy, were defeated by the papal army, and the port of the 
Tiber and Rome protected by fortifications. 

105. Benedict III. .855—858 

Rome. 

106. St. Nicholas I 85S—S67 

Rome. A great and energetic Pope in troubled times. He 
upheld the sacredness of marriage against Count Baldwin of 
Flanders and King Lothar II., aud enforced ecclesiastical dis- 
cipline and law everywhere. Beginning of the Greek Schism. 
Lothar had dismissed his lawful wife Theutberga and 
attempted to marry Waldrada. Although besieged by an 
imperial army, Nicholas resisted until his death. Under his 
successor Adrian the king came to Rome and swore a 
false oath on the Bl. Sacrament, that he had returned to his 
duty, aud was admitted to h. Communion. But the sacrilege 
was followed by a terrible punishment. The king and all 
who had joined in his crime died of a mysterious disease, 
while returning home. 

107. Adrian II 867 — 872 

Rome. VIII. General Council, held at Constantinople, con- 
demned Photius and settled the Greek Schism. (869 — 870.) 

108. John VIII S72—SS2 

Rome, received St. Methodius, apostle of the Slavs in Rome, 
and granted special faculties to him, f. i. to read after the 
gospel of the Mass its Slavic translation to the people. 



109 



iog. Martinus I 882 — 884 

Gallese, Italy; first Bishop of Cere. Friend of King Alfred 
of England, to whom he sent a particle of the Holy Cross. 
He assisted him in establishing schools and forbade to tax 
such property. He is the first pope, who had been bishop 
before his election. 

1/0. St. Adrian III. 884—885 

Rome. 

in. Stephen VI 885—891 

Rome, a father of the poor. He distributed all his property 
among the needy when he became Pope, and fed orphans 
and poor people at his own table. 

112. Formosus 891 — 896 

Rome. Had been bishop of Porto. Crowned Arnulf, emperor 
of Germany. The Greek schismatics submitted to the Pope. 

iij. Boniface VI. 896 

Rome, died shortly after his election. 

114. Stephen VII 897—898 

Rome. 

115. Romanus 898 

Gallese, Italy, lived only three months after his election. 

116. Theodore II 898 

Rome. His pontificate lasted 20 days. 

777. John IX. 898 — 900 

Tivoli, Italy. The bishops of Southern Germany saluted him 
in their address as "the august bishop, not of one city, but 
the whole world." 

Century X. — 23 Popes. 

During this period the Holy See suffered greatly from the 
disturbances caused by contending and powerful factions, 
and its occupants have been- grievously slandered by L,uit- 
prand, the chronicler of that time. He was a creature of the 
imperial party and bitterly opposed the Italian party, under 
whose protection the popes ruled during these troubled times. 



110 

u8. Benedict IV. 900 — 903 

Rome, a saintly pope and father of the poor. 

119. Leo V. 903 

Ardea, Italy, died soon after his election. 

i 20. Sergius III 004 — 911 

Rome. 

121. Anastasius III. 911 — 913 

Rome, a pope praised for his mildness and blameless life. 

122. Landus gij — gi4 

from Sabino, Italy, ruled only six months. 

123. John X. gi5—g28 

Ravenna, Italy, freed the pontifical states from the inroads of 
the Saracenes and restored church discipline in Germany. 

124. Leo VI. .g28—g2g 

Rome. 

125. Stephen VIII. g2g — 931 

Rome. Conversion of King Wratislaw of Bohemia. 

126. John XI 931—936 

Rome. Resisted the unlawful marriage of King Hugo, for 
which he suffered imprisonment. 

127. Leo VIII 93^—939 

Rome. 

128. Stephen IX. 93g — 942 

Rome. 

129. Martinus II - 943 — 946 

Rome, devoted his life to works of charity and peace. 



Ill 

130. Agapitus II ..946—956 

Rome. Conversion of Harold, King of Denmark, and erec- 
tion of bishoprics in his realm. 

I 3 1 ' John XII. 95^—9^4 

Rome. The first Pope who changed his name after election. 
He annointed Otto, the Great, of Germany, as Roman em- 
peror, which dignity remained thenceforth with the rulers of 
the German Emire. 

132. Leo VIII 963—965 

Rome. 

133. Benedict V. 964—966 

Rome. Was driven from the throne in 964. 

134. John XIII 965—972 

Rome, sent legates to Poland, whose King Miesco had been 
converted to the faith. 

135. Benedict VI 972 — 973 

Rome. 

136. Benedict VII 975— 9^4 

Rome, held several synods against the sin of simony, was a 
father of the poor and a patron of monastic life. 

137. John XIV. 984—985 

Pavia, Italy. 

138. John XV. 985—996 

Rome, established peace between King Ethelred of England 
and the Duke of Normandy. 

139. Gregory V. ..^....996 — 999 

Karnthen, Germany, cousin of Emperor Otto III. He said to 
the imperial and the republican parties, who disputed about 
their rights in papal elections: "We are representatives of 
the prince of the apostles and therefore hold our power from 
him alone." 



112 



140. Sylvester II ppp — 1003 

Auvergne, France, gave to St. Stephen, King of Hungary, the 
title of "Apostolic Majesty". The celebration of All Souls 
Day, which had been introduced by St. Odilo of Cluny, was 
made by him general for the whole Church. 

Century XI. — 19 Popes. 

141. John XVII 1003 

Rome. 

142. John XVIII T 1004 — loop 

Rome, ordained St. Bruno, the apostle of the Prussians. 

143. Sergius IV. loop — 1012 

Rome, a Pope of great humility, charity and learning. 

144. Benedict VIII 1012 — 1024 

Rome. The monk Guido of Arezzo invented the system of 
notes, which caused a new era in the development of music. 
The Pope called him to Rome and appointed him teacher of 
music. 

145. John XIX. 1024 — 1032 

Rome, received King Rudolf of Burgundy and King Canute 
of Denmark, who came on a pilgrimage to Rome. He also 
crowned Emperor Conrad of Germany. 

146. Benedict IX. 1032 — 1044 

Rome. Resigned in the year 1044. 

14J. Silvester III 1043 

Rome. 

148. Benedict IX, second time 1043 

14P. Gregory VI 1043 — 1046 

Rome. Resigned in the year 1046. 

During these two pontificates Rome had become a prey to 
to the feuds of lawless lords and parties, among whom the 
Counts of Tusculum were most powerful. Hence Emperor 
Henry III. of Germany interfered to restore order and to pro- 
tect the Holy See. 



113 



zjo. Clement II 1046 — 1047 

Saxony, Germany, crowned Emperor Henry III. 

iji. Benedict IX, third time 1047 — 1048 

152. Damasus II 1048 

Bavaria, Germany, ruled only 23 days. 

153. St. Leo IX. 1049 — 1054 

Alsatia, Germany. He entered Rome in the humble garb of 
a pilgrim and devoted his life to enforce ecclesiastical disci- 
pline and order. Michael Cerularius, patriarch of Constan- 
tinople, renewed the Greek Schism. 

154. Victor II ioss — I0 57 

Nordgau, Germany, continued the reforms of his predecessor. 

755. Stephen X. 70s 7 — 10 5& 

Lorain, Germany. 

156. Nicholas II ios9 — 1061 

Burgundy, established the rule that the Pope should be 
elected by the Cardinals. 

137. Alexander II. 1061 — 1073 

Baggio, Italy. 

138. St. Gregory VII. 1073 — 1087 

Soana, Italy. A great and holy Pope, whose life was devoted 
to reforming abuses, which had crept into the Church, and to 
resisting with heroic fortitude the encroachments of princely 
power on the rights of the Church. When Henry IV. of Ger- 
many, who had done penance at Canossa and been absolved, 
rebelled again and invaded Rome, Gregory had to flee and 
died at Salerno. The last words of t'he great defender of the 
Church were: "I have loved justice and hated iniquity; 
therefore I die in exile." He defended with equal firmness 
the sacredness of marriage and forced Henry IV. by the cen- 
sures of the Church to return to his lawful wife Bertha. 

159. BL Victor III. 1087— 1088 

Benevent, Italy. 



114 



160. Bl. Urban II. 1088 — zogg 

Rheims, France. He held a large assembly in Clermont, in 
France, in which the first crusade for the deliverance of the 
Holy Sepulchre of Our Lord was resolved on. 

161. Paschal II. xogg — 1118 

Bieda, Italy. His reign was disturbed by the struggle about 
the Right of Investiture between the Holy See and the princes 
(Henry I. of England, Henry IV. and Henry V. of Germany.) 

Century XII. — 16 Popes. 

162. Gelasius II. 1118 — nig 

Gaeta, Italy. The dispute about the Right of Investiture 
continued. The Pope had to flee before Henry V. and died in 
Clugny, France. 

163. Calixtns II „ nig — 1124 

Burgundy. The dispute about the Right of Investiture was 
finally settled by the Concordat of Worms (1122), so that the 
emperor should invest prelates with the temporal power by 
his sceptre, and the Pope with the spiritual power by crosier 
and ring. IX. General Council, held at the Lateran in Rome 
(1123), solemnly sanctioned the Concordat and promulgated 
canons against simony, counterfeiting of coin, and disturbing 
of pilgrimages and crusades. 

164. Honorius II. 11 24 — 1130 

Fagnano, Italy. 

i6j. Innocent II 1130 — 11 43 

Rome. He held the X. General Council at the Lateran (1139) 
mainly about the reform of Church discipline. 

166. Celestine II. 11 43 — 11 44 

Citta di Castello, Italy. 

i6j. Lucius II 1144 — 1 145 

Bologna, Italy. 

168. Bl. Eugene III. 1145 — 1153 

Montemagno, Italy. He was a disciple of St. Bernard, who 
preached the second crusade. 



115 

i6g. Anastasius IV. 1 133— 1 154 

Rome, a venerable man of 90 years, who died a few months 
after his election. 

170. Adrian IV ~H54 — ^S9 

England. In his reign commenced the disastrous dispute 
with the ambitious Emperor Frederic I. of Germany, who 
strove to foist the absolutism of the empire of old pagan 
Rome upon the Christian Roman Empire, conferred by Pope 
Leo III. upon Charlemagne. 

171. Alexander III 1130 — 1181 

Siena, Italy. Emperor Frederic Barbarossa of Germany be- 
sieged Rome, but a pestilence destroyed his army. He made 
peace with the Pope, and so did -Henry II. of England. XI. 
General Council, held at the Lateran, Rome, condemned the 
errors of the Albigenses (1179), and renewed the canons of 
former Councils against simony, usury, dangerous tourna- 
ments and lawless feuds of the knights. 

172. Lucius III. 1181 — 1185 

Lucca, Italy, settled ecclesiastical disputes with King William 
of Scotland. 

173. Urban III 1185 — 1187 

Milan, Italy. 

174. Gregory VIII 1187 

Benevent, Italy. 

173. Clement III 1187 — 1191 

Rome. The third crusade under Frederic Barbarossa. 

176. Celestine III. 1191 — 1198 

Rome, defended the sanctity of marriage against the incest- 
uous King Alphons of Leon, Spain, and against Philip II. 
of France, who attempted a divorce from his lawful wife 
Ingeborg of Denmark. 

177. Innocent III 1 198— 12 16 

Anagni, Italy, called the teacher of the world and the father 
of kings. He worked for the suppression of the Albigensian 
heresy and peace between the princes ; held the XII. General 
Council at the Lateran against the heresies of the age and for 
the reformation of morals (1215). The commandment of the 
annual paschal communion was framed at this Council. St. 
Francis of Assisium founded the Franciscan, and St. Dom- 
inic the Dominican Order. 



116 



Century XIII. — 17 Popes. 

178. Honorius III 1216 — 1227 

Rome, gave the papal approbation to Franciscan and Do- 
minican Orders. 

179. Gregory IX. 1227 — 1241 

Anagni, Italy, a great and saintly Pope, who defended the 
honor and rights of the Church against the tyrannical Frede- 
ric II. of Germany. 

180. Celestine IV. 1241 

Milano, Italy, died 17 days after his election. 

181. Innocent IV. 1243 — 1254 

Genova, Italy. He convened the XIII. General Council at 
Lyons, France, by which Frederick II., emperor of Germany, 
was excommunicated and deposed (1245). 

182. Alexander IV. 1254— 1261 

Anagni, Italy. 

183. Urban IV 1261—1264 

Troyes, France. Instituted the Feast of Corpus Christi. 

184. Clement IV. 1263 — 1268 

France. Last crusade under Lo^is IX. of France. 

185. Bl. Gregory X. 1272— 1276 

Piacenza, Italy. Held the XIV. General Council at Lyons 
(1274), at which 500 bishops, one king and ambassadors of 
the Christian governments of Europe, representatives of the 
Greek emperor and his prelates, and ambassadors of the 
Grand Khan of Tartary were present. Four of the latter were 
baptized and the Greeks abjured their schism. — Death of the 
great scholastics and doctors of the Church, St. Thomas 
Aquinas and St. Bonaventure. Rudolf of Hapsburg, king of 
Germany, restored order in the disturbed empire with the 
help of the Pope and the bishops. 

186. Bl. Innocent V. 1276 

Savoy, ruled only five months. 



117 



z8?. Adrian V 1276 

Genova, Italy, died 36 days after his election. 

188. John XXI 1276— 1277 

Lisbon, Portugal, had a short, but active pontificate. 

189. Nicholas III. 1277 — 1280 

Rome. 

190. Martin IV. 1281—1285 

France, a father of the poor in the terrible famine, which 
visited the pontifical states. 

191. Honorius IV. 1283 — 1287 

Rome. 

192. Nicholas IV. 1288— 1292 

Ascoli, ftaly. 

193. St. Celestine V. 1294 

Isernia, Italy, resigned in order to become a hermit. 

194. Boniface VIII 1294 — 1303 

Anagni, Italy, mediated the peace between contending princ- 
es, canonized St. Louis of France, and proclaimed the first 
Jubilee indulgence. He defended the rights of the Church 
with great dignity against the covetous King Philip, the Fair, 
of France, and suffered persecution and insults from the 
king's minions with apostolic fortitude. 

Century XIV. — 10 Popes. 

195. Bl. Benedict XI 1303 — 1304 

Treviso, Italy. When his mother visited him in his pontifical 
state, the courtiers presented her arrayed in a rich dress ; but 
the Pope would not recognize her until she appeared in the 
dress of her humble station. Then he arose, full of reverence, 
and said : "This is indeed my mother." 

196. Clement V.... 1303 — 1314 

France. Under him the Knights Templar were suppressed 
at the urgent demand of Philip the Fair, by the XV. General 
Council held at Vienne, France (1312). The Council proclaimed 
the dogma, that the human soul is the "form", i. e. life giv- 
ing principle of the body, a doctrine which renders the 
theory of evolution (as understood by modern infidelity) un- 
tenable. He established his residence at Avignon, France, 
which was continued by the five succeeding French Popes. 



118 



*97- John XXII. 13 16—1334 

France, a great scholar in canon law and protector of the 
universities. He caused the erection of the universities of 
Cambridge, England, and Cahors, France. From him dates 
the tolling of the bells for the evening Angelus. 

198. Benedict XII. 1334 — 1342 

France, established peace between Portugal and Spain. 

199. Clement VI. 1342 — 1352 

France. Cola Rienzi's revolt in Rome. During the fearful 
black pestilence which devastated Europe, the Pope protected 
the Jews against the excited people. 

200. Innoce?it VI 1332 — 1362 

France. Heresy of Wyckliffe, in England, who had been dis- 
appointed in regard to an ecclesiastical office andvented his 
discontent by teaching rebellion against papal authority. 

201. Bl. Urban V. 1362 — 1370 

France. 

202. Gregory XI 1370 — 137S 

France. The residence of Popes in Avignon ended with him, 
and was taken up again in Rome. 

203. Urban VI 1378—1389 

Naples, Italy. Six months after his election began the 
so-called Western Schism, caused by a number of cardinals, 
who claimed that Urban's election had not been according to 
the canons of the Church, and then elected an anti-pope, 
Clement VII., who was succeeded by Benedict XIII. 

204. Boniface IX. 1389—1404 

Naples, Italy, legitimate successor of Urban VI. 

Century XV. — 11 Popes. 

203. In?iocen~t VII 1404 — 1406 

Solmona, Italy. 

.206. Gregory XII 1406—1413 

Venice, Italy. A council was convened by a numbe r of car- 
dinals at Pisa in order to stop the schism, but resulted only 
in the election of another doubtful Pope. Gregory XII. -, 



119 



resigned finally at the General Council of Constance, in 1415, 
under the condition that the Council be first legitimately- 
convoked by his authority, and then should elect another 
Pope to succeed him. The Council condemned the heresy of 
Wycliffe and Huss. 

207. Martin V. 1417—1431 

Rome. Was elected by the Council of Constance. The 
schism ceased. 

208. Eugene IV. 1431 — 144.7 

Venice. Convened the XVII. General Council, which was 
held first at Ferrara, then at Florence (1438). The Greek 
Bishops submitted and were united with the Church; but five 
years later the schism revived. Thus the Greeks themselves, 
having submitted three times to the authority of the Church, 
have judged and condemned their schism. 

2og. Nicholas V. 1447 — 1455 

Sarzana, Italy, fostered arts and sciences and is one of the 
founders of modern science. He formed the famous Vatican 
Library and gathered the greatest artists, scientists and 
learned men of the age around him. During his reign Con- 
stantinople was conquered by the Turks (1453). 

210. Calixtus III 1433 — 1458 

Spain. He preached and supported a crusade against the 
Turks, who threatened Europe. The Christians vanquished 
the Turks' power in the famous battle of Belgrade. He issued 
a solemn decision that Joan of Arc died a martyr for her 
religion and her country. 

211. Pius II. 1438 — 1464 

Siena, Italy (Aeneas Sylvius). Condemned the Pragmatic 
Sanction of Bourges, France, which became afterwards the 
foundation of Gallicanism. Its most obnoxious proposition 
claimed the superiority of General Councils over the Pope. 

212. Paul II. 1464— 1471 

Venice. The first printing press was established in Rome 

9 



; ! 



120 



213. Sixtus IV 147 1 — 1484 

Savoua, Italy, received an embassy of the Czar of Russia, which 
brought Russia's rejection of the Greek Schism and submis- 
sion to the Church according to the Council of Florence. 

214. Innocent VIII. 1484 — 1492 

Genoa, mediated peace in England, distracted by the War of 
the Roses. Spain was freed from Mohammedanism and 
America discovered by Columbus. 

215. Alexander VI 1492 — 1303 

Borgia, Spain. A Pope whose character has been severely 
censured by historians. The political troubles whicn dis- 
turbed Italy and the pontifical states engrossed his energy. 
While the unruly barons chafed under his iron rule, the 
people of Rome loved him as a strong but generous master. 
In his administration of Church affairs he followed the ti^di- 
tional rules, made wise constitutions and never passed any 
decree at variance with faith and morals. 

In his reign here lived at Florence one Savonarola, a 
Dominican friar, remarkable for his ascetic piety and fervent 
eloquence. His eccentric and visionary character led him by 
degrees to exchange his missionary work with the role of a 
political and social reformer. The ensuing disturbances 
caused Alexander VI. to enjoin silence; but Savanarola re- 
fused to obey and violently attacked the Pope from the pul- 
pit. Excommunication followed. Finally the government 
of Florence condemned the friar to death, which he suffered 
with edifying piety and as a faithful son of the Church. 

Century XVI. — 17 Popes. 

216. Plus III 1303 

Siena, Italy. 

217. Julius II 1503— I5 J 3 

Savona, Itaty, laid the foundation of the Basilica of St. Peter, 
was the patron of art and the friend of Michael Angelo, 
Raphael, and other eminent artists. He convened the XVIII 
General Council in the Lateran, Rome, in which the Prag- 
matic Sanction of Bourges was solemnly condemned, and 
decrees about universities, peace among Christian princes 
and reforms were passed. 



121 



2iS. Leo X. 1513—15 2 * 

Florence, Italy. Completed the Basilica of St. Peter, the 
grandest cathedral of the world. He excommunicated Luther. 

219. Adrian VI 1522—1523 

Utrecht, Holland. 

220. Clement VII 1523— 1534 

Florence, excommunicated Henry VIIT. for divorcing himself 
from his lawful wife and marrying another. 

221. Paul III 1534. — 1549 

Rome, convoked the XIX. General Council at Trent, Tyrol. 
He approved the newly founded Order of the Jesuits. 

222. Julius III 1550— 1555 

Rome. Interruption of the Council of Trent on account of 
Wars in Germany and Italy. 

223. Marcellus II 7555 

Montepulciano, Italy, reigned only 22 days. 

224. Paul IV. 1555— 1 559 

Naples, Italy, published a bull, in which he forbade, under 
excommunication, to establish slavery among the Indians of 
the West Indies. 

225. Pius IV. 1559— !5 6 5 

Milano, Italy, ended and confirmed the Council of Trent, in 
which the errors of Protestantism were condemned, and most 
salutary reforms in regard to morals and Church discipline 
were proposed and begun. He reformed Church music with 
the assistance of the great Palestrina. St. Charles Borromeo, 
the great Archbishop of Milan and true reformer of Church 
discipline, was his nephew. 

226. St. Pius V. 1566 — 1572 

Bosco, Italy, a great Saint and untiring reformer of abuses, 
who remained on the papal throne the humble and ascetic 
Dominican monk, he had been before. 

227. Gregory XIII 1572 — 1585 

Bologna, Italy, corrected the calendar, which was gratefully 
received by the whole Christian world and is to-day in gen- 
eral, use, even in protestant countries. 



122 



228. Sixtus V. 1383 — 1390 

Grottamare, Italy. A great and just ruler, who made the 
pontifical states the best governed country in Europe and 
organized the administration of ecclesiastical affairs in an 
admirable manner. 

229. Urban VII. 1390 

Rome; died before his coronation. 

230. Gregory XIV. 1590 — 1391 

Cremona, Italy, a man of charity, prayer and ascetic life. 

231. Innocent IX 1591 

Bologna, Italy, died two months after his election. 

232. Clement VIII 1592 — 1605 

Florence, Italy, established peace between Spain and France, 
and between France and Savoy. He published the revised 
edition of the Vulgate Bible, which has been ever since the 
official text used by the Church. 

Century XVII. — 11 Popes. 

233. Leo XI 1603 

Florence, Italy. 

234. Paul V. 1603 — 1621 

Rome, a man of prayer and devoted servant of Mary. He 
established the perpetual adoration of the Bl. Sacrament. 

233. Gregory XV 1621 — 1623 

Bologna, Italy, founded the Propaganda and canonized St. 
Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier. 

236. Urban VIII 1623— 1644 

Florence, Italy, a man of great learning, patron of science 
and art and full of zeal for the welfare of the Church. 

23J. Innocent X. ..1644— 1655 

Rome, condemned the errors of Jansenism, which maintained 
that by original sin man has lost his freedom of will, and 
that divine grace is irresistible. Innocent supported Ireland 
with ships and money in defending its faith. 



m 

238. Alexander VII'....., .._„. I..../655— 1667 

Siena, Italy. 

239. Clement IX..,.. 1667— 1669 

Pistoja, Italy, mediated the peace between France and Spain 
and extended the missions in heathen lands. 

240. ClentetotX..... ^...1670 — 1676 

Rome, forced Portugal to close its tribunal of the Inquisition. 

241. Innocent XI. 1676 — 1689 

Como, Italy, condemned the four Gallican articles and firmly 
opposed King Louis XIV. of France in his attacks on the 
rights of the Church. 

242. Alexander VIII. ...1689 — 1691 

Venice, Italy, supported Venice in its wars against the Turks. 

243. Innocent XII 1691 — 1700 

Naples, Italy, was admired by all for his knowledge and 
virtues; a father of the orphans and the poor, and he upheld 
papal infallibility against Gallicanism. 

Century XVIII — 8 Popes. 

During this century the Catholic princes of Europe adopted 
Gallican principles and strove persistently to oppress the 
Church in their dominions by tyrannous laws. It became 
their policy to hinder the Holy See in its communication with 
the bishops of their respective countries, to oppose the re- 
ligious orders and to foster an irreligious spirit. Hence each 
pontificate of this century is marked by a continual and sor- 
rowful struggle for the rights and liberty of the Church against 
overbearing and treacherous Catholic princes and govern- 
ments. But the dark pages of the history of this century are 
redeemed by the great piety, learning, and patience of these 
eight pontiffs, who meekly shared with their Divine Master 
the insults of more than one crowned Herod and the cold 
injustice of many a time-serving Pilate. 

244. Clement XI 1700 — 1721 

Urbino, Italy. He opposed to the haughty injustice of princes 
a life of prayer and patience, went daily to confession and 
was a devout client of St. Joseph, on whose feast he died. 



124 



24.5- Innocent XIII. 1721 — 1724 

Rome, full of zeal for introducing salutary measures of re- 
form, but surrounded by political difficulties. 

246. Benedict XIII 1724 — 1730 

Rome. He accepted the heavy responsibility of the papal 
dignity with tears of sorrow and only in obedience to his 
superiors, and continued upon his throne the humble and 
ascetic life of the Dominican Order, to which he belonged. 

24/. Clement XII 1730 — 1740 

Florence, Italy, excommunicated Freemasonry, which had 
become an ally of the governments in their general hostility 
to the Holy See. 

248. Benedict XIV 1740 — 1758 

Bologna, Italy. A man of profound learning and author of 
important works on canon law. 

24g. Clement XIII .: 175S — //<5p 

Venice, Italy, defended without wavering the rights of the 
Holy See and the Society of Jesus against the growing perse- 
cution of evil-minded governments, but finally died almost 
broken-hearted, a martyr Pope on the throne. 

250. Clement XIV //<5p — 1774 

Angelo in Vado, Italy. The conspiracy of the ministers 
Pombal of Portugal, Aranda of Spain, Tauucci of Naples, 
supported by Voltaire and the Jausenists in France, had 
prepared a storm of passion against the Order of the Jesuits, 
who had been the staunch defenders of the rights of the 
Church against the encroachments of absolute state power. 
The kings of these respective countries, mostly of the Bourbon 
family, combined to force the Pope to decree the abolition of 
the Order. The Jesuits submitted to the decision of the Holy 
See with dignified obedience. 

Shortly after the bloody French revolution broke out and 
swept over Europe, breaking the thrones of those absolute 
rulers, w-ho had throughout the XVIII. century annoyed the 
Holy See and endeavored to enslave the Church. 



125 



25 1. Pius VI. 1775— 1799 

Cesena, Italy. The army of the French revolution occupied 
the pontifical states. Pius VI. was dragged into captivity and 
died in Valencia, praying for his persecutors. 

Century XIX. — 6 Popes. 

252. Pius VII. 1800 — 1823 

Cesena, Italy. With apostolic courage he defended the rights 
of the Church against the tyranny of the all-powerful Napo- 
leon, emperor of the French, although a captive at Fontaine- 
bleau. But Napoleon lost his throne and the Pope returned 
in triumph to Rome. His first act was the re-establishment 
of the Order of the Jesuits in compliance with the general 
wish of the Christian world. 

253. Leo XII. 1823 — 7829 

Genga, Italy, a pontiff of apostolic zeal and a patron of educa- 
tion and learning. He combated the religious indifferentism 
of the age and renewed the censures against Freemasonry. 

254. Pius VIII 1829—1830 

Cingoli, Italy. 

2 55- Gregory XVI 1831—1846 

Belluno, Italy, a Pope of eminent learning and wisdom. He 
condemned the heretical doctrines of his time and firmly 
opposed the revolutionary plotring which pervaded Europe. 
When Czar Nicholas I. of Russia visited the Vatican, Gregory 
reproached him with apostolic dignity and courage on ac- 
count of the relentless cruelty, with which the Catholic Poles 
were persecuted in Russia. 

256. Pius IX. 1846-/878 

Sinigaglia, Italy. The revolution of 1848 swept over Europe 
and drove Pius into exile. After his return he promulgated 
the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed 
Virgin, condemned the liberalistic errors of the age in his 
encyclicals and syllabus, and convened the XX. General 
Council at the Vatican, in which the dogma of the Infallibili- 
ty of the Pope was proclaimed. 

The King of Italy robbed the Holy See of the pontifical 
states and Rome, and since then the Pope lives a prisoner in 
the Vatican. 



126 

257* Leo XIII 1878— 1903 

Carpineto, Italy. He instructed and warned Christendom in 
his clear and profound encyclicals against the dangerous er- 
rors of the time, encouraged sacred learning and attracted the 
hearts of men by his apostolic dignity, charity and mildness. 

Century XX. 

258. Plus X. 1903 

Riese, dioec. Treviso, Italy. 

Note. — The number of the Popes from St. Peter to 
Pius X. is 258, an imposing list of great and venerable men, 
who succeeded each other in the See of St. Peter for 1800 
years. While the dynasties of the greatest empires disap- 
peared in the lapse of time, this is immortal; for the promise 
of the eternal God is upon it. 

In the fierce battles of faith they bore the first and greatest 
brunt — 34 obtained the crown of Martyrdom and about 40 
suffered prison and exile as Confessors of the Faith. 

Eighty-two are venerated as Saints on the altars of the 
Church, and whatever was holy, good and true in the history 
of Christian nations, found shelter and fostering care with 
the great and universal shepherds of Christ's flock. 

The See of St. Peter has ever been the center of Catholic 
unity, as St. Cyprian called it ; from it the faith has contin- 
uously radiated into the world and been safeguarded against 
error; for our Lord said to St. Peter: "And thou confirm thy 
brethren." The children of the Church all over the world 
look with reverence and love upon the venerable Pontiff in 
the Eternal City, the Father of Christendom. Of whatever 
race or nationality they be, at his throne all aspirations meet 
and are harmonized in the same faith and charity, of which 
he is the divinely appointed guardian; for after Christ had 
asked St. Peter three times: "Doest thou love me?" He said 
to him: "Feed my lambs and feed my sheep." 



List of the Ecumenical or General Councils. 

(The Apostles held a Council at Jerusalem in the year 51.) 

1. The First Council of Nice (A. D. 325). 

See pages ip and ioo. 

2. The First Council of Constantinople (A. D. 381). 

See pages ip and ioo. 

3. The Council of Ephesus (A. D. 431). 

See pages 20 and 101. 

4. The Council of Chalcedon (A. D. 451). 

See pages 20 and 101. 

5. The Second Council of Constantinople (A. D. 553). 

See page 103. 

6. The Third Council of Constantinople (A. D. 680-681.) 

See pages 20 and 105. 

7. The Second Council of Nice (A. D. 787). 

See pages 20 and 107. 

8. The Fourth Council of Constantinople (A. D. 869-870). 

See page iop. 

9. The First Council of the Lateran (Rome, A. D. 1123). 

See page 114. 

10. The Second Council of the Lateran (Rome, A. D. 1139). 

See page 114. 

11. The Third Council of the Lateran (Rome, A. D. 1179). 

See page iij. 

12. The Fourth Council of the Lateran (Rome, A. D. 1215). 

See pages 52 and 115. 

13. The First Council of Lyons, France (A. D. 1245). 

See pages 5/ and 116. 

14. The Second Council of Lyons (A. D. 1274). See page 116. 

15. The Council of Vienne, France (A. D. 1311-1312). 

See pages 44 and 117. 

16. The Council of Constance, Germany (A. D. 1414-1418). 

See pages 12 and up. 

17. The Council of Florence, Italy (A. D. 1438-1439). 

See page up. 

18. The Fifth Council of the Lateran (A. D. 1512-1517). 

See page 120. 

19. The Council of Trent, Tyrol (A. D. 1545-1563). 

See pages 77 and 121. 

20. The Vatican Council, Rome (A. D. 1869). 

See pages 8p and 125. 

(127) 



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